Ian Lewis has an exceptionally good piece in March’s Research World.
Ideally, it should be read in tandem with his January Quirk’s piece titled “Ten keys to increasing the impact of research” and with his comments on this website.
Although I highly recommend that you read (and re-read) Ian’s piece in Research World and draw [...]

It is not difficult to see how prediction markets could become another useful tool in the market researcher’s toolkit.
For those interested in prediction markets I strongly recommend David Rothschild’s article in this month’s Public Opinion Quarterly (AAPOR’s publication).
Although Rothschild’s article focuses on “comparing prediction markets, polls and their biases”, the implications of his article stretch [...]

My response to Melissa Pepper’s useful question about futures of the industry.
Some possible (as opposed to probable or preferable) futures:
1. The commoditized part of the business is called “market research” and it loses talent and ages dramatically. The non-commoditized part of the business is called “strategic foresight” (see BCG report), “data-driven consulting”, or “customer community.” [...]

I have believed since the late 1990s that there will eventually be a merger of market research with the more future-oriented “strategic foresight”. In fact, you can read my thinking about this here. (See pages 8 and 16.)
A new Boston Consulting Group report supports this thesis.
You can read it all here.
But, I highly [...]

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita’s new book, The Predictioneer’s Game, is well worth a read.
First, it’s simply interesting. The author has been building game theory based prediction markets for the US government and private industry clients for years, and his learnings in this field (especially, multi-player nation state relations modeling) are fascinating.
Interestingly, the author writes about [...]

One thing we can virtually count on when it comes to market research is significant line blurring over time.
Is it market research? Is it management consulting? Is it digital strategy? Is it strategic foresight?
The first, and probably greatest, area we can expect significant line blurring is between traditional market research and management [...]