FUTURE TALENT MEETS THE INDUSTRY

ESOMAR CONGRESS 2008

Name: Dustin Paterson
University: McGill University, Canada
Title of course/programme: BA Honours Sociology and Major in Political Science
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How do you see the market research industry evolving and how can you contribute to it?

Like many other industries that are trying to cope with the current pace of information and innovation in the marketplace I see two distinct patterns of evolution occurring in market research. First of all, as it has been the case for much of the history of market research I expect that the biggest and most innovative companies will continue to drive innovative research and will develop increasingly more interesting and useful tools enabling them to do so. At the same time however, I believe that a large part of the market research industry will be absorbed into the open-source and internet 2.0 movements that are currently occurring. With so much data available, and so much of it in the public domain, I see market research becoming available to much smaller companies, much less developed countries, and other groups for whom market research has been prohibitively expensive up to this point. I would like to contribute to this movement because it is often those that cannot access market research and consultation that are in most need of what it can provide.

What are in your opinion the necessary skills for market researchers in the present environment?

As software evolves, generating data outputs is becoming less and less difficult for anyone with a spss or excel manual to do. As a result, more people are conducting research than ever before, and are doing so with a more limited skill-set and less academic grounding than was the case in the past. Because of this situation, it is more important now than ever to make sure that all decisions and techniques made throughout the research process are considered from a theoretical, not only a statistical point of view. This affects all aspects of the research process including instrument design, sampling considerations, analysis and interpretation of results. In order to maintain academic legitimacy researchers have to know the principles upon which they are making assumptions whenever they generate an output using computer software. To this end, a strict attention to detail remains, in my opinion, the most important skill that any researcher can have.

How do you see your career unfolding and what are your aspirations?

It is difficult to say at this point. I would like to experience all different sides of the industry before I decide which route to pursue but in the end I would like to start my own research company specializing in program evaluation in the interests of serving those for whom research can be a gateway to social justice and a higher standard of living.


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