Editor's note: Kathryn Korostoff is president of Research Rockstar LLC, a Marlborough, Mass., provider of market research training. She can be reached at 508-691-6004 ext. 705 or at kkorostoff@researchrockstar.com or via Twitter @ResearchRocks. This article appeared in the January 15, 2013, edition of Quirk's e-newsletter.
In the 16th century, a mathematician, astronomer and Catholic cleric named Nicolas Copernicus made a statement that seemed, at the time, pretty audacious: "What if," he posited, "the sun is actually the center of our solar system, rather than the Earth?" Completely breaking from conventional thinking, he started a revolution in how humans viewed their place in the universe with one bold statement.
This is the time of year for market research industry predictions but too many end-of-year articles bombard us with recycled past predictions, seasoned with a dash of the painfully obvious. Wouldn't it be better if each pontificator were allowed only one bold statement? Their Copernican-inspired take on the industry? I'm going to practice what I preach and give it my best shot:
The fundamental structure of market research jobs will change dramatically by 2015. Generic "market research project manager" titles will be replaced by more skill and application-specific roles.
Exit the generalist: a prediction for market research careers
Gone will be the generic market research project manager who conventionally covers a diverse range of tasks and responsibilities - tasks and responsibilities that have become increasingly complex in recent years. Just try to find somebody who's truly skilled in the current practices of research design, methodology evaluation, statistics, moderation (in various offline and online venues), writing, visual design, project management and client management. It has always been hard to find those rare birds who can handle some combination of these diverse roles but today each one has become far more intricate - and has a constant onslaught of new developments - so it's only getting worse.
Enter the specialist: market research careers of 2015
As just one example, consider the practice of research design. At the start of a given project, one starts with stated objectives and then assesses which methods - alone or in combination - would best address them. Once a fairly easy step (a choice between surveys or focus groups, in many cases), this crucial assessment is becoming more complicated, given the ever-expanding range of methods and tools available. The researcher who defaults to the survey-or-focus-group paradigm is now out of touch. In the future we will see more appropriate recognition for this role, with a title such as "consumer research design architect." A list of job responsibilities for this role might look like this:
- Accomplishes market research project objectives by identifying, recommending and communicating research methods.
- Develops and enforces best practices, policies and procedures for selected research methods.
- Maintains research function efficiencies by resolving problems, conducting audits and identifying improvements specific to applied methods.
- Updates team knowledge through training, industry networking and ongoing product evaluations.
- Enhances organization reputation for thought leadership through consistent exploration and testing of innovative tools and methods and achieving leadership roles in professional organizations.
Other similarly-specialized jobs could emerge, allowing individual market researchers to become experts in a particular aspect of the process. Here are a few more possibilities, though there are many more, with hypothetical job titles:
- Visual design: manager of consumer informatics. Most researchers rely heavily on PowerPoint and I'm a fan when it's used properly but it takes real skill to do well. Further, in recent years, executive audiences have been exposed to far more impactful slide designs than the research function typically delivers. And video is becoming a hot deliverable, requiring a whole new skill set. Add to that the huge challenge of how to visually display data that may be coming from multiple sources and methods and I see huge areas of innovation potential. A mastery of visual deliverables - and their timely creation - is key to a successful process. It takes time and skill, both for the design conceptualization as well as for the use of appropriate tools.
- Writing: market research writer. Writing for market research is becoming more challenging as multiple stakeholders (a diverse audience) becomes the norm. Writing in a way that will resonate with different people and strike them as credible is no easy task. Whether writing proposals, status reports or end-of-project deliverables, quality writing is a true skill.
- Statistics: quantitative research specialist. Certainly somebody could become very skilled in SPSS, SAS and a crosstab tool but these days they also have to be skilled in using some of the built-in stats and reporting functions of online survey platforms, along with the tools of text analytics and (one could argue) social media research. That's a lot to keep up with. In reality, many market research departments already have dedicated data analysts who do the heavy lifting and this is only going to increase, as will the role's importance and visibility. More suitable titles that reflect the value of this role will surely follow. In any case, it is impossible for a "market research project manager" to also assume these responsibilities.
- Overall management: senior project facilitator. Here we're talking about keeping a project coordinated, on budget and on time. It's a difficult job, made more difficult by the trend toward multinational research, complex sample sourcing, significantly more QA and often multiple data collection modes. Is this the project manager position? Yes, but hopefully with more respect for the sheer coordination effort required for today's project scopes.
An application-centric universe
How market research is applied to real business decisions is becoming more complex. What if instead of categorizing our people by skill area (as described above), we assigned the market research project manager of the future by their area of research application?
Let's take product concept testing - a very involved type of market research project. There are qualitative and quantitative methods that apply to concept testing and within each of those broad categories there is an increasing number of options. One person who's truly an expert in designing, conducting and delivering product concept testing research could keep up but could that same person also be equally proficient in market segmentation, message testing and brand perception studies? Do we expect all physicists to be experts in astrophysics and thermal sciences? I don't think so.
In an application-centric market research universe, we could see job titles by application such as "product testing research specialist," "branding development research analyst" or "customer loyalty analytics specialist." Perhaps nouns like architect, designer, engineer, investigator and strategist will become common.
The application-centric approach could solve many of the challenges facing - and frustrating - market researchers today. Would a market researcher who is allowed to specialize by application add more value? Be better able to manage project risk? Be more efficient at conducting their analysis? Be better equipped to manage client expectations? Let's take the example of market segmentation: Would a client engaging for a market segmentation study - an often high-visibility, high -udget, risky type of project - rather be working with a project manager or with a market segmentation strategist?
More precise descriptions
So that's the paradigm shift I predict. Maybe not as bold as Copernicus but it is based on my direct observations of the market research universe. In the future, the term "market research project manager" will be far too generic and will be phased out in favor of more specialized areas of expertise and more precise descriptions of business impact.