The world isn't black and white, and marketing research isn't a panacea

Oksana Pleskova
Jul 24
5 min read

Human & Sound Insight Home, Kyiv, Ukraine

Marketers are increasingly demanding clear and unambiguous answers to their business questions from research, refusing personal involvement in projects and unwilling to delve into the nuances

This approach often stems not from extreme busyness, but from a banal desire to shift responsibility for business decisions onto the consumer or researcher: "They said they'd buy it, so let's launch", "We did everything right, that's what the focus groups told us"

I'll let you a scary secret: no marketing research provides clear, unambiguous, absolutely reliable, or universally correct answers

BUT making marketing decisions without research significantly increases the business's risk

Close collaboration and the combination of expertise from both the researcher and the client significantly boost the likelihood of making effective decisions based on the data obtained

Marketing research has a cumulative effect. With each project, each deep dive into the world of consumers, markets and trends, our understanding gets progressively better and deeper

Now, let me try to explain why

The fundamental principle of research, especially that concerning complex systems with many influencing factors, is the probabilistic, not deterministic, nature of results. This means we'll always have elements of randomness and uncertainty present, and the outcome can never be predicted with absolute certainty

Human behavior, with all its individual and psychological peculiarities and the specifics of social interaction, is precisely such an incredibly complex research object. That's why marketing research (both qualitative and quantitative, by the way) only increases the probability of making the right decisions by providing a better understanding of the situation, but it can't guarantee 100% successful results

I know, I know, everyone really wants guarantees. And I understand that your stakeholders demand them (because people who think about business in financial terms, like CEOs and CFOs, want it either exact or not at all). But I don't want to mislead you

Why can't any research guarantee you 100% effective results?

Because the world is inherently very complex. Markets, social groups and the human mind aren't closed systems with perfectly predictable inputs and outputs. They are complex adaptive systems with a multitude of interconnected, dynamic and often difficult or even impossible-to-track variables

Because scientific research methods don't define absolute truth. This applies to every scientific discipline

Even medical research for new drugs does not give 100% effectiveness. Even physics, considered an exact science, deals with probabilities at the quantum level
In marketing research, various models, methodologies and frameworks don't exist to provide indisputable results. They merely help us systematically gather information, test hypotheses and analyze material to get closer to understanding what, with the highest possible probability, might work, given the available data, within a specific timeframe, geography and target audience

Because not only qual, but also quant cannot give businesses unambiguous answers

Quantitative research is often mistakenly considered a more precise science compared to qualitative
But while it aims to measure and analyze data to identify statistical patterns, trends and cause-and-effect relationships, quantitative research only creates an illusion of accuracy and a sense of predictability
Real human behavior is rarely perfectly predictable, and massive amounts of data don't necessarily mean correct conclusions. In my experience, there are plenty of cases where quantitative research results turned out to be flawed, and qualitative research literally saved a business from significant losses
Therefore, it's important to understand that both qualitative and quantitative research have a probabilistic, not deterministic, nature

Qualitative marketing research (qual) is probabilistic because it delves into the subjective, nuanced and often unpredictable world of human experience. Its goal is to get closer to understanding 'how' and 'why' people behave, make decisions, perceive events, other people, products or brands. This distinguishes qual from quant, which informs 'how many' and 'how much'

Qual focuses on exploring contexts and meanings

Qual studies people's subjective experiences, thoughts, values, beliefs
It helps us gain a deeper understanding of how people think, why they perceive the world, other people, categories, brands, marketing initiatives in certain ways and so on
It provides conclusions in the form of non-numerical data
It uncovers a broad range of patterns, theories and hypotheses for further exploration, recognizing that human behavior is complex, influenced by countless factors, and often can't be reduced to simple, clear cause-and-effect relationships, because, well, there are always nuances! 😊

Qual provides deep understanding with limited samples

Qualitative research inherently involves close interaction with a small number of people - representatives of specific target segments
The result is a deep, nuanced understanding of individual human experience, which cannot be automatically extrapolated to a larger audience. For that, you need a properly prepared quantitative study, specifically built upon the info from the qualitative phase (quant, in turn, can't uncover non-obvious, unpredictable things or deep insights)

Qualitative research has a flexible, exploratory and interpretive nature

Unlike structured and methodologically rigid quant, qualitative studies are inherently improvisational. They give the moderator freedom to act, allowing to ask questions as and when they deem necessary in each specific situation. This helps uncover important things, problems and opportunities that are difficult, if not impossible, to anticipate and plan for
The effectiveness of qual directly depends on the researcher's understanding of the fundamental principles of business and marketing. This isn't just pure improvisation; it's about finding information that's valuable to the client's business
Furthermore, the effectiveness of qualitative analysis largely relies on the researcher's ability to understand subtle cues, pick up on emotions and read non-verbal signals – something AI, by the way, doesn't do and likely won't ever be able to do
That's why, in qualitative research, the researcher's personality type, professionalism and foundational marketing education are significantly more important than the brand or methodologies of the agency they represent

The value of close collaboration and long-term partnership

When a researcher partners with a client for years, with each project he/she gains a progressively better and deeper understanding of what's happening with the category, the key players, your brand in the perception of various targets. This is especially important for qualitative research, where, in addition to close dialogue with the target audience, the researcher needs equally close communication with the client

When a client is in constant dialogue with the researcher, both deeply engage, exchange ideas, discuss, complement, teach, verify, challenge each other. The researcher is an expert in their craft and the client is an expert in their business. Therefore, it's precisely this duet that fosters a better, deeper, more multifaceted understanding, leading to more substantiated conclusions and marketing decisions

A researcher working unilaterally, without deep client involvement, simply can't encompass the full spectrum of knowledge and understanding

So, choose your qualitative researcher not just for one project, but with an eye toward a long-term partnership

And as soon as you find a specialist you not only want to formally complete a project with, but also to truly discuss your business pains and joys with – congratulations, you're lucky! Value that relationship and work side-by-side for as long as possible...

In conclusion:

Research is a valuable tool for better understanding, but not for 100% guarantees

While the results from both types of research, qual and quant, aren't precise or unambiguous, making marketing decisions without research puts a business at significantly higher risk

Combining qual & quant methods along with close collaboration and a blend of expertise from both the researcher and the client helps increase the probability of making effective decisions, reduces risks, and uncovers new opportunities