The heart of our industry is everywhere

We’ve always felt that market research mimics the best of real life.

Identifying patterns to understand and solve problems. Asking good questions and really listening to the answers. Continuously learning about the world around you. These are all major parts of the job, and of life, too.

But in a recent interview with the online community platform, Recollective, our own Ethan Linder (Research Director) articulated an aspect of this phenomenon that hit us in the heart.

“What is your favorite part of qualitative research?” the interviewer asked.

“Recruitment, for sure,” said Ethan, with a grin. “No, just kidding.”

Then, he went on:

“I would say it's the end, right?

It's wrapping up a final set of in-person interviews, or an online Recollective community, and exporting all those artifacts. You're looking at a folder on your computer that has not just an immense amount of data, but an immense amount of real people's experiences. That's something not a lot of people get to do—dive head-first into a new world of knowledge coming from people firsthand.”

What Ethan captures here is not only the sheer thrill of learning something new, but also the absolute treasure trove that is real people’s stories and experiences. That every interaction, every conversation, every piece of written or oral history is an opportunity to learn about those around us, and the world at large. And not just any opportunity—but an exciting one, an exceptional one, a life-giving one.

Seeing such stories all compiled in a neat stack before us makes that learning potential obvious, but how often are we catching these occasions in real life, when they come in smaller, more modest packages? Your partner’s end-of-day rant. The bleacher chit-chat at your kid’s baseball game. Your father, perched in his recliner, recounting the same memories from his youth, time and again.

There is richness there.

Ethan continued:

“It's challenging, and it's daunting, at times. But for every key insight that I've written up from qualitative analysis and put into an executive summary, I've learned something about myself, too. Having that sheer array of raw communication and content from people to pore over is something I've taken for granted in the past, especially to get a deliverable done on time, but it’s what is really great about qualitative research. It's taught me about myself.”

If we engage deeply enough, the learning from other people’s stories even circles back to us. Other people become like a mirror, reflecting back to us something we may or may not recognize in ourselves but serves to build our self-awareness and self-understanding, even if that awareness is just this: that we often take these opportunities for granted because we’re already moving on to the next thing.

In just this one astute observation, Ethan grips the heart of the market research industry. And yet, the irony is in thinking that this kind of career is what affords us these opportunities. Really, they just come in nicer packaging here.