It is no accident that Heraclitus’ saying “Change is the only constant in life” rings as true today as it did when he said it over 2,500 years ago. With increased global interconnectedness and the proliferation of technology that allows for instant communication, the pace of change seems only to increase year after year.
For those of us tasked with researching human sentiments, thoughts, and behaviours, this pace of change constitutes both a challenge and an opportunity. On the challenge side, it means that a result was true only a short time ago is increasingly unlikely to hold true in the present. One would have a tough time extrapolating a study on vaccine acceptance from 2019 to our post-pandemic world, as an example. Conversely, the fact that axioms are constantly being upended provides an opportunity for fresh and agile research to bring up-to-date evidence to the table and inform decision-making.
So how can we address an increasing pace of change with research methods?
- Design with room for adjustment – when conducting a longitudinal study, create opportunities for adjustment of your research approach or research questions. For example, if conducting an annual survey, spread the fieldwork across multiple waves to allow the addition or subtraction of questions to account for changing circumstances.
- Challenge assumptions – assumptions are critical in any research design, but it is more important than ever to ensure that we identify and challenge them to ensure that they still apply. A good way of doing this is conducting a pre-mortem with your team to identify any issues before they happen.
- Keep up with the times – while it is important to a deep dive into relevant literature before tackling a particular subject, making sure you are constantly in tune with the recent advances in your subject area streamlines the set-up process. This can be done by following relevant thought leaders on social media or reading recent books on related areas as they are released.
The strategies listed above should help CX researchers of all kinds ensure that the results of their research is as relevant as possible and brings the best information forward for decision makers. By designing with room for adjustment, challenging assumptions, and keeping up with the times we can all become better suited for the next change that life brings our way.