While I was listening to a panel talk at the Annual CASRO in Los Angeles this morning, I heard the 4 industry experts discuss how their ‘fall’ into Market Research was quite by accident. This story is not unlike many researchers I’ve spoken to and indeed, this subject has been covered vastly in Market Research in Linked In discussions, Twitter discussions and so on.
But let’s go back a level here, why is this so? Why has no Market Researcher ever said “when I grow up, I wanna work in market research?”. We have so many students wanting to grow up and work in the Arts and in Science, and become writers and singers etc so is this because they’ve been inspired by the subjects taught in school? Or is it the jobs students hear about through friends and family? Or is it popular culture, with more people than ever wanting to become singers because shows like X Factor and Pop Idol make that lifestyle/job look so amazing?
Although there certainly isn’t a Research Idol in Market Research (although, that’s not to say I don’t idolise some market researchers), we can be certain that our lifestyles aren’t too bad, are they? Especially, if like me, you get to travel a huge amount with your work and meet new people, see new places.
But I digress…we want to be a sexy industry that students and young people not studying want to work in. These are the people that will keep our industry alive in 30, 40, 100 years time. But how can students decide to grow up being researchers, if, like me, they had no idea as to the size of the research industry, the many disciplines it incorporates and actually, how useful research is in ALL subjects taught at school.
This brings me to a big question: Should research be taught as a subject in high schools? (or for my British readers, Secondary Schools)? Should ‘Market Research’ be a GCSE and A Level option with students taking modules like Gamification and Behavioural Economics in this wider subject? My opinion is YES. If Research was a subject taught at Secondary/High School level I think that not only will this keep our industry going by ensuring we have researchers in the future, but also help our industry expand like never before.
Suddenly we’ll have students studying research who may even go on to invent whole new methodologies and bring a new level of understanding and expansion into existing methodologies we use.
From being inspired by this panel discussion at CASRO, I tweeted the blog title question out and got some replies from industry people. Here is what they had to say:
Tom Ewing @TomEwing tweeted: “Basic statistical literacy would be great – how to read stats like how GCSE history students are taught how to consider sources”
Melanie Courtright @MelCourtright tweeted: “I think basic statistics, and the concepts of peer review and gathering insights should absolutely be taught”
Russ Wilson @RJWilson23 tweeted: But (good) education teaches curiosity – which underpins being a researcher”. Russ went on to tweet that #MRX is too niche, but I responded saying that “it (MR) incorporates so many disciplines.” So surely there’s more than enough to make it a non-niche subject and a subject that can last the whole of the curriculum?
Inqui Stat Inc @InquiStat tweeted: “Absolutely! The Research Method as a way of thinking and knowing the world should be early education.”
Fiona Silver @FionaSilver tweeted: “I’d like to see skills in critical appraisal of stats used by the media eg like The Tiger that Isn’t.” In response to my question about what subject Research can be ‘bolted on to’ if it WASN’T a subject in it’s own right, Fiona tweeted that perhaps ‘Citizenship’ would be a good place to start.
From the RTG Facebook page discussion, Annie Pettit (@Lovestats) said “I think we should start with numerical literacy, something that many adults lack”.
When I put this question to the panel today, I had quite a different but still very interesting response. Susan Schwartz McDonald of National Analysts Worldwide said that she doesn’t feel that having Research as a subject at school level is necessary. She looks for “great intellectual curiosity and versatility” while also commenting that when she hires engineers and philosophers, she can “do the rest” (teach them about research). What’s important to Susan as well as Dale Lersch of The Pert Group (also on the panel) was the the people they hire have “the right DNA” while it being important that who they hire “can articulate their curiosity”.
What do you think? Should Research be taught as a subject at school level with modules in Gamification, Behavioural Economics, Neuroscience, Anthropology, Ethics, Privacy and so on?
Let us know what you think. Insights from conference organizers and young researchers also extremely welcome!