Data-centric businesses need data-fluent advisors. Or as Mckinsey likes to call them, "translators." What professionals will meet this need? Is it a good career path option?

Market researchers seem to assume that people with big data jobs are better positioned. But that is not necessarily so. In this conversation, let's talk about why market research and customer insights professionals are actually well-positioned to take on the new role

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Hiring a market research company has pros and cons. But here are 4 cases when it will likely be the best (and safest) choice.

Please share this episode with anyone who may be deliberating over whether or not to hire a market research company.

Big data isn't perfect. Unfortunately, biased experts often over-promise and often under-deliver. What do market research & insights professionals need to know about big data risk factors? In this conversation, 7 reasons why Big Data projects fail, and what we can do to help clients make data-agnostic choices.

7 reasons why writing qualitative market research reports is hard, and what you can do about it. As a market research professional, you may need to write reports based on your focus groups, online focus groups, IDIs, ethnography or online qualitative methods. And it's a tough job. 

Check out the diagram on page  6 of this PDF for a great example of how to simplify your reporting process by jump-starting your analysis and synthesis.

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In a February 2018 HBR article, McKinsey identifies potential demand for millions of "translators." But look at the definition: sounds like market research & insights. So what is the difference between a market research and insights professional and a "translator"? And is an "analytics" professional more qualified to pursue this career path than an "insights" professional? In this conversation, Kathryn discusses the one key thing you need to do in order to be credibly positioned for this new career path scenario.

Thinking about your market research and insights career path?Ready to refresh your career goals?

Here are some tips on how to refresh your career plans to align with current demand for insights professionals. These career coaching tips are for anyone who is planning to start or advance their market research and insights (MR&I) career in a corporate/brand environment.

If your interest is in a career working for a market research company, some of these tips will not apply to you.

Do your market research survey respondents speed through your questions? Does that impact data quality? In any given questionnaire, the amount of time participants spend completing it can vary. In some cases, that's legitimate. But in some cases, it's a red flag that you have bad respondents, and thus potential data quality issues. In this conversation, Kathryn Korostoff discusses how to find your speeders, how to assess the impact on data quality, and how to deal with them. Special thanks to SurveyMonkey for publishing some great data on this topic!

Why are some market research & insights teams moving to R? Because as these teams become the central synthesizer for multiple data types and sources from across an organization, they choose to use the tools that their peers in related data functions are using--often especially R. And R can be as geeky or as friendly as you want--depending on what you use it with. Learn more about R and why some insights teams are making the move from SPSS to R. This conversation includes several sources for learning R, including free options.

Meetings that make an impact with special guest Carol Galvin. In this conversation, Kathryn speaks with Insights veteran Carol Galvin about how to make sure these critical end-of-project meets are successful for the researcher and the client. Carol has been in the market research and insights profession for 30+ years, most recently as a Distinguished Market Intelligence Professional and Team Lead in the IBM Market Development and Insights group.

How many questionnaires do you see that are full of 5-point rating scales? 5-point rating scales can be useful, but there are many other types of scales--and not all scales are rating scales at all. Unfortunately, many people know rating scales, so they default to them. In this conversation, learn about two problems with over-relying on rating scales, and about sources for expanding your scale repertoire. Great questionnaires can effectively measure attitudes and behaviors: but not if you use the wrong scales or use scales incorrectly.