Three things the insights industry isn’t talking about enough

As part of the #insightstakeover I thought I'd write a blog about some topics that I think are being largely overlooked by our industry - those that may have a huge impact. I'd love your thoughts and feedback.

1. How legislation can affect the future of our industry -

• Data privacy and possible future legislation - Brooke Reavey spoke about this important topic at our Insights Association regional chapter conference in September and we had her on our podcast shortly afterwards. It’s a complex issue, but at a high level, in 1996 US Congress passed Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act, which protects online platforms from being liable for what’s posted on their sites. This includes survey platforms such as Qualtrics, Forsta, and AYTM from liability from research – including HIPPA and other privacy violations.
• However, the US Supreme Court recently decided to hear a case, Gonzales vs. Google (in February) which will require them to weigh in on this 1996 rule for the first time. The impact of this case could seriously impact what kinds of content platforms are willing to host. If the US Supreme Court decides to course correct an archaic law (in internet time at least), it could certainly have a major impact on survey research.
• This could potentially require some sort of accreditation to be necessary in order to conduct a survey, so it's something everyone should be keeping an eye on.

2. Esomar election challenges - While some may disagree, the Esomar election issues were not a huge topic of discussion in the insights industry. Yes, there were a few passionate LinkedIn discussions and I’m sure the Esomar council have been busy, but for most researchers, it flew well under the radar. Perhaps it’s a reflection of how most researchers keep their head down and do their jobs, and don’t focus on external organizations, but this is a very important issue for our industry. We’ve discussed this on our latest episode of Intellicast, and I do feel that Esomar has handled this as well as can be expected. They have been as transparent as possible given the situation. I’m sure in early 2023 there will be more information about a new election, but I am still surprised this didn’t send more shockwaves in the industry. This is probably a good time to point out that I would encourage everyone to try and get involved in some sort of external organization like Insights Association, Esomar, or others to help shape and improve our industry.

3. AI Progress and its impact on our insights. If you haven’t heard by now, Chat GPT has taken the world by storm. This AI which was just released about a month ago has helped someone negotiate their bills, passed the Bar exam, and can write term papers near instantaneously. While some may go straight to the negative implications, I tend to try and think how we can leverage it as an industry. I’ve written conference submissions, rewritten my LinkedIn profile, and in fact Chat GPT helped me write this entire blog. We have had it code thousands of open-end responses in seconds. It appears to be able to write the bones of a quantitative questionnaire and a discussion guide. How will we use it as researchers? Also, given the massive progress AI has made impacting online surveys, will fraudsters utilize this to provide even better open-ended responses? Our joke in the office is that we’ll have to start flagging the worst open ends as well as the best open ends in the future. It's clear that the insights industry is changing rapidly and these are just a few of the topics that we should be talking about more.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on how these changes will affect the industry in the comments below.