Are you a data-fluent market researcher?
The modern business world is chock full of data-related concepts like ‘big data,’ ‘web analytics,’ ‘predictive data,’ and countless more. It’s a lot to comprehend. But do not fear! In part 1 of this 2-part series, we’ll show you that becoming data fluent is totally achievable.
What is Data Fluency?
The data fluent professional can discuss and choose from many types of data—including “big” and “small,” quantitative and qualitative, primary and secondary, financial and customer, and more. Knowing your options, and how to assess their reliability and suitability for different decision-making needs, is a fundamental skill. Further, all business professionals who have a foundation in data fluency are better prepared for exchanging ideas and planning data-based programs. There’s little doubt that upping your data fluency will make you a better, more modern, market researcher.
A Growing Demand for Data-Fluent Advisors
Business leaders are relying more and more on big data and data analytics. A survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) in 2015 found that 59% of business executives are not only aware of data and analytics but also consider them ‘vital’ to their operations. You can check out this entire survey by the EIU, ‘The Business of Data,’ here.
Yet while they know that new data sources are vital, many business executives are also overwhelmed by the amount of data they have access to. They need advisors who can objectively tell them when to use which data sources and methods. This is a vital role, and market research and customer insights professionals are well-positioned to become these data fluent—and agnostic—advisors.
Not Yet Fluent? Data Fluency is Learnable
We said earlier not to worry, now here’s why. You can learn to expand your current level of data fluency while passing it along to your clients as well. Research Rockstar recommends a focus on building a foundation upon these 3 skills:
- Creating outcome-centric goals with your clients
- Recommending the most relevant data options to your clients (which will not always be surveys and focus groups!)
- Helping your clients understand data reliability and outcomes
If you’re able to use these skills while also passing them along to your clients, then you have created a solid foundation for helping organizations truly harness the power of all data types.
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See, that wasn’t so bad! To dig deeper into data fluency and how it relates to market researchers, be sure to check out the related video on Research Rockstar’s YouTube channel. Also, keep a look out for Part 2 on this topic next week.
