Forget Research Insights, You Need Research that Incites

I’m sure you’ve heard this. You might even have said it. “This study needs to give us actionable insights.” Researchers get it.

We don’t want to complete a study only to hear the client say the effort was wasted. “Newness” is also paramount. New insights are good; old insights are dismissed as things the organization already knows.

So what do researchers do if we come up short? We fix our process. We hold more discovery sessions. We run a backwards research process. We strive for faster results the business can act on. We get more training on the client’s industry and business frameworks.

All are fine solutions, but they’re solving the wrong problem.

The problem is that the organization doesn’t feel incited to make any decisions or take any actions based on the research.

The key is making absolutely sure that your research is structured to roll into strategy from the beginning. Even if it needs to be budgeted like a standalone project, know what the next step is, and build it as if that will happen.

Here’s a quick-and-dirty list of steps my team relies on to ensure our research incites:

1. Stakeholder vision alignment
2. Workshopping the ramifications of the research
3. Accountability for taking the next steps
4. Prototyping
5. Assumption testing
6. Iteration
7. Launch

Focus on how the research can incite action and change. That’s the point of the exercise. Insights are a means to the end.

How do you make sure your research incites?