Market research
We must not take evidence for granted Evidence, data and insight must be protected and prioritised in the UK’s Covid recovery, says MRS CEO Jane Frost CBE With falling temperatures, tightening cent of British shoppers were actively restrictions and the return of the Downing stockpiling and buying tins and toilet roll Street briefings, recent weeks have created in extraordinary quantities during those a distinct feeling of ‘here we go again’. My early days of the pandemic. The average heart sank on reading last week’s person was picking up just one or two headlines about supermarket extra items in store – not really bosses urging shoppers surprising when you consider We to show restraint. It schools and offices were m ust not stirred up not-soclosed and families had take evidenc warm memories of more mouths to feed e , data an insight March 2020, its throughout the day. for gran d images of empty Beware too of the a ted nd gov grocery aisles and frantic drive to adapt e rnment needs t loud accusations of to – as the jargon o ‘selfish stockpiling’. has it – the ‘new protect act now to th As is often the normal’. Has the whole leading is worldcase, nuance and of society ‘pivoted’ sector facts are much less (another word favoured exciting. Data from by the commentators) research agency Kantar or do a large number of showed that only three per people want the old normal
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back? The amount of hand wringing about the ban on late night partying might point to the latter for example. Quality insight in a time of change It’s easy to get caught up in hysteria when the media narrative is so dominant and plays to our greatest anxieties. But all the potential examples speak to a wider point: as we move forward and try to unpick the impact of this pandemic on our lives and crucially our futures – from the way we work and learn, to how we socialise and care for our older generations and those needing constant care – we need to stay focused on quality insight. Business owners and policy makers must make decisions based on evidence and insight, not just raw data, the headlines or worse still their Twitter feeds. Detailed analysis of the facts and the insights
