Marrying art + science in market research

There’s a long-standing debate between art and science. Can they co-exist? Is one exclusive of the other? Our Group Services Director, Horst Feldhaeuser, says that using both these two approaches in market research is a winning combination. In his latest article for the Insights Association, “Art vs. Science: In Market Research, this is a battle we can win-win,” he outlines some of the ways that artistry can be implemented in what is a decidedly scientific, numbers-driven endeavor. He encourages researchers to never lose sight of their curiosity and artistic nature, even in an environment that has a strong focus on the next-best-thing from a technology standpoint.

He outlines three key ways that market researchers can reclaim the “art” in their daily jobs to marry with the science that drives the industry forward. You can view them here in a clip directly from the article on the Insights Association blog: 

“Remember why you became a market researcher in the first place. I’ve written before about reclaiming your passion in this field. It is easy to get caught up in the weeds, worrying about timelines and goals and deliverables and a wide variety of stakeholder needs. Take a moment every day, or at least once a week, to remind yourself why you entered this field in the first place. In this article, I outline several ways you can rekindle your joy in the workplace, from connecting with other people to embracing what you do on a daily basis.

Create emotional touchpoints with the data. Where did our data come from in the first place? It’s easy to forget that all the data we are collecting and processing started out as human input and behavior. Yes, there are real humans behind all those numbers. Keep this point in mind as you are processing and analyzing data and be curious about the individuals and groups that provided it in the first place. Dig deeper and feed your inquisitive spirit. It is the speedy and efficient technology we have at our fingertips that allows you the time to do this. Take advantage of this great example of how art and science can work together.

-Find ways to be creative that complement your expected outputs. Data visualization is a great example of this. Gone are the days of boring spreadsheets and bar graphs, which restricted the level of creativity we were able to infuse into this step of the process. No longer are we constrained by systems that don’t allow customization, or which are extraordinarily incompatible with any creative process. With the right science (technology solution), you can create beautiful art in the reporting and dashboarding stage of your project.”

He concludes by summarizing the benefits of bringing art and science together to reach better outcomes as a market researcher. 

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