In a survey by Qualtrics.com 93% of researchers see AI in market research as a force for good. Even though this 90%+ are convinced of the positive impact of AI, less than 30% are confident they know HOW AI will affect the industry. Here are some of the ways AI will improve the market research industry and other functions where human intervention is more effective.
What AI Will Change
Over 94% of the market researchers in Qualtrics study say the number one technology that will most impact the use of AI in market research is advanced data analysis and automated statistical analysis. AI uses advanced algorithms and machine learning to analyze vast amounts of data in a fraction of the time. This enables researchers to obtain insights from larger sample sizes which leads to more accurate and reliable results.
Natural language processing is one of the most striking advancements in AI. Researchers believe that nearly one in four surveys will be spoken to a digital assistance within five years. Over 30% of market researchers believe spoken surveys will be a better experience for respondents and spoken surveys will yield higher data quality than typed surveys.
Generative AI, like ChatGPT, can help research teams research a topic, provide stronger survey foundational research or help in understanding the best survey layout. It can assist in survey ideation – when stuck for questions it can help generate ideas that lead to better data quality and actionable insights. AI can also process unstructured data, such as social media posts, online reviews and customer feedback, which would be difficult and time-consuming using traditional methods.
Eliminating human bias through the use of AI will be a significant advance. Traditional research methods have to rely on human interpretation which can introduce subjective biases into the data. Analyzing the data objectively with AI can remove potential bias and provide unbiased insights.
What AI Probably Won’t Change
“Human intuition, context, and the ability to interpret complex data are areas where AI may struggle to match human researchers,” said Quantilope.com. There will continue to be a need for human intuition and context that AI probably won’t be able to replicate…yet. Experienced market researchers can interpret and contextualize the data based on their expertise while AI might miss out on these subtle nuances.
Even though data collection and analysis is one of the top positive impacts of AI in market research, the need for high-quality data is an AI challenge. Algorithms rely on clean and accurate data to provide meaningful insights. If the data is incomplete or biased, the results could be misleading.
Presentation of the final recommendations to clients is not something market researchers will be giving up to AI. Yet the speed at which AI can create the data sets and the analysis, and the increased quantity of data points that can be studied mean that market researchers can present more powerful results to help their clients make informed decision quickly giving them an edge in the competitive marketplace.
