The festive season is over, the tsunami of predictions is happening and we’re all bracing ourselves for another year of…well, who knows?! Trump, Brexit and AI will no doubt shape a large part of it, but YOU will shape the rest.
By that, I mean you, the great human being that you are. Sure, we’ve seen Google’s AutoML display such recursive intelligence that it no longer needs human intervention. Also, 2017 witnessed Google’s AlphaGo beat the world’s best human Go player, Ke Jie. We are now cohabiting this earth with an artificial intelligence (AI) whose capability is much greater than our own, that we humans have created, but which is unlike us humans. Scary stuff.
Technology, AI, Google, algorithms are all starting to bite and change the way we live and go about our professional business, but at what cost? So, here’s my thing and this isn't a prediction per se. There are two big things hanging over research right now; client’s need for speed, and how this is impacting quality, and the role of technology.
What I’d like to see happen in 2018 and beyond (and it is what I’m building my business on), is a closer marriage of humans and machines, the combination of quality and quantity, and a drive for better quality and standards in research. There, I’ve said it. Instead of AI, think Augmented Intelligence. Humans adding to technology, but also technology adding to humans and our infinite intelligence.
Has digital technology completely changed research or has it fundamentally remained the same? I strongly believe it’s the latter, so consider this. If digital wasn’t here, would we be happy to see the quality of our work drop? I think not. Technology, including Further’s, has enabled more people to do more research. It has introduced more consumers of research into the arena – people who were going on gut instinct and intuition previously. That’s fantastic. But now we need to ensure these people are doing more of the right research - good research so that fewer business and brands fail.
Technology is an enabler, but it relies on us humans to make the right choice of when and where to use it, and how it augments our social sciences to extract the right meaning and answers, and that it’s used to its best advantage. On the flip side, we humans need to be more confident in our own abilities and continue to use our brainpower. Organisations that realise the potential of technological ecosystems powered by highly productive, smart humans, AI and analytics will win the race. It’s a major shift and few are getting it right at the moment.
Raising the standards and quality of research
Where to start on the mission for better research? I’m proposing that we start with recruitment and ensuring we’re asking the right questions of the right people. All too often we invite the closest, cheapest people into the room. They are least representative, only motivated by the money and not the cause. Keep looking people. The internet has connected more of us, so the barriers no longer exist, provided you give it the time and attention required. We’ve proven it time and again when our clients didn’t believe we could find them the right participants.
Second, is research design. There’s no excuse for asking a poor question, or leading the consumer down a route to please your client. I’ve made it a mission over the last ten years not only to employ the best software engineers but to have some of the best social researchers in the team. Humans + Machines working together, tirelessly to drive up quality; demonstrating time and again that a piece of data (ie a video clip) isn’t an insight. Don’t be fooled by what other tech-only businesses are telling you. Call them out and delve into their roots. Rigorous, grounded research can be done quickly, but it doesn’t happen in a single moment. So, give it the little bit of time it needs, and get the right answers from the right questions.
In 2018 Further will be launching some great new ‘things’. But we’ll also be talking to you more about where we’ve come from and what qualifies us to tell you what good research is about. We’ve trained in the social sciences, we’ve got accreditations and memberships aplenty. We’ve practiced for more years than I care to think about. The technology came second and was driven by a deep understanding. So, when you use our technology and research design templates, you’ll be doing GOOD research.
2018 will be even bigger. We’ll be spending more time at conferences, more time hosting events of our own, more time learning from you, and more time releasing ideas into the wild to shape not only your 2018, but beyond.
Agree with my sentiment? Tell me, either way.
Written by Stephen Cribbett
I founded Further over 11-years ago with the purpose of using deep human insight to develop better brands, products and services, and inspire new ways of thinking.
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