Here is our latest article in Research Magazine.
There’s a dance going on in research these days. It’s the alluring dance of technology. Man versus machine. The problem is we’re letting the machine lead, which means we’re not using technology’s full potential.
The mistakes we make are most evident when we try to understand the networks that connect consumers. We see only the technology system that supports the network, not the human structure. As researchers, we’ve been trained to code and read the lowest common denominators of behaviour.
A person clicks the Like button on Facebook and the Like is recorded. That person becomes that Like - a fan of some brand or another, but the person is forgotten. As the Likes rack up, we lose further sight of the people behind the behaviour. By then, we’re looking at a movement. But by the time we see those numbers reach their high point, it’s too late to act upon them. Consumers are already moving on to the next thing. That doesn’t stop us piling in, trying to understand and explain what we’ve just witnessed. What we are conducting is essentially an autopsy. Research is stuck in a rut of quantifying and measuring after the fact. Read the full article
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