Evidence Talks

Conversation with Josephine Hansom, Youth Practice lead at Savanta, Fellow of MRS and Chair of the MRS' ED&I Council. 

Talking to Dr Mark Thorpe, Board Director, Truth

Podcast two in the series looking at EDI in the research and insight sector.

With James Endersby, CEO & Partner, Opinium and Priya Minas, Associate Director, Opinium

Talking to Dr Mark Thorpe, Board Director, Truth.

In this edition of Evidence Talks, we’re discussing a topic that has taken the research sector by storm - synthetic data.

But what do we mean by synthetic data? Are we just talking about filling gaps and augmenting real data based on primary research, or are we proposing to take the human out of the picture altogether, and just ask questions of ChatGPT or another similar large language model? 

What are the opportunities for the industry, and what are the risks for clients? Can AI convincingly simulate a customer? What are the ethical and legal implications of doing this?

The MRS Delphi Group has published a report ‘Using synthetic participants for market research' which is referenced during this podcast.

Host:
Christian Walsh, Content & Digital Director, MRS

Guests:
Reena Sooch, Partner, Day One Strategy

Ray Poynter, Founder of The Future Place, President of ESOMAR and Fellow of MRS 

Colin Strong, Head of Behavioural Science at Ipsos, Honorary professor at Nottingham University, Fellow of MRS and Chair of the MRS Delphi Group.

‘To be a window on the world we must reflect the world.’ Jane Frost CBE, CEO of MRS

What does being an MRS Inclusion Pledge signatory mean? 

Hear from Jane Frost, CEO of MRS and Mark Thorpe, Board Director at Truth on how MRS is supporting signatories to action their commitment to EDI in everyday work practices. 

Welcome to Evidence Talks, the podcast that explores the latest trends in how we understand customer behaviour. In this episode we turn our attention to the UK market research industry itself which has undergone quite a shakeup in the last few years. 

Barely a week passes on research-live.com without a new deal being announced. Just look at the dozens of notable sales in 2019: including Kantar to Bain Capital; Join the Dots to InSites; and Com Res to Savanta. The list goes on... 

The market research industry is consolidating more rapidly than ever before. According to the Research Live Industry Report 2020, research agencies in the UK generate more than £5bn turnover every year. And over half of that comes from the top 10 agencies. 

In this podcast we want to find out what the impact of this consolidation is on the people in the companies that are being bought and merged. 

We’ll also hear what it’s like for buyers of research - are clients getting what they want from fewer, larger suppliers? 

Ultimately, who are the winners and who are the losers in this new climate of deal making?

Host: Christian Walsh, Digital Director, Market Research Society (MRS)

Guests:

Rhea Fox – Head of Insight and Strategy at Aviva and member of MRS Delphi Group
Angela Morgans, Regional MD for Europe at Metrixlab
Jon Priest, former-ceo of Future Thinking and now Director of Capel Partners

Today we're talking about representation and inclusion. 

Insight professionals are here to discover the truth and are in a unique position to increase understanding and amplify all voices within society – and organisations need to listen to what these communities have to say if they are to retain customers and staff, and grow their business.

We may feel that many battles have been won – everyone is talking about diversity; laws are in place and doors have been opened. But when we dig below the surface the picture is less positive.

According to Stonewall, 62% of graduates go back into the closet when they enter the job market.

Almost half of 18- to 24-year-olds identifying as something other than 100% heterosexual.

And a recent YouGov study found that almost two in five Brits don’t think it’s appropriate for colleagues to be out in the workplace. 

To discuss all this, today's guests are:

Chantel Le Carpentier, project manager at YouGov
Michelle Fan, senior strategist in semiotics at Flamingo
Alex Turk, associate director at ICM Unlimited

The host is Jane Bainbridge, Head of Editorial for Impact magazine and Research-Live.com, both of which are published by the Market Research Society (MRS).

The MRS Delphi Group is a collection of the most respected thinkers in the research, insight and data analytics sector.

Social media research is an important source of insight for most organisations today. But fake profiles, fake sentiment and fake data is a growing problem. This podcast gets to the heart of how data analysis and traditional research can work better together, or fail spectacularly.

In 2018 Facebook suspended 1.3bn fake accounts.

The Mueller report stated 126 million Americans were influenced by fake profiles and content created by a Russian agency to influence the outcome of the 2016 US election.

In April 2019 research from Which? Magazine found that: ‘Amazon is losing the battle against fake reviews’.

Our guests discuss the impact that fake information online is having on customer insight.

Colin Strong, global head of behavioural science at Ipsos and member of MRS Delphi Group

Cordelia Hay, research director at Britain Thinks

Aji Ghose Head of Research & Data Science at Sky

The host is Christian Walsh, Digital Director at the Market Research Society (MRS).

The MRS Delphi Group is a collection of the most respected thinkers in the research, insight and data analytics sector.