Whenever I Hear the Word ‘Paradigm’ I reach for my Gun: How to Stop Talking and Start Walking

Abstract

‘Silence is the virtue of fools’ (Francis Bacon) We can look but eventually we'll have to leap. This paper is based on the premise that there is an irrefutable case for re-launching the market research industry with a new vision and a fresh set of guiding principles and day-to-day operational frameworks. We would argue that the massive changes that have taken - and are continuing to take - place in the way we collect, interpret and action business information mean that most market researchers now accept that their industry must urgently re-define itself and explain to the outside world what new market research is now all about. We are, of course, not the only commentators on the market research industry who have been calling for a new market research paradigm. Over the last decade, various commentators have been strongly arguing the case for a radical new approach to market research. This developmental thinking was usefully summarised in a paper given by Spackman, Barker and Nancarrow at last year's MRS Conference. In the paper the authors argued for a new approach that requires ‘a greater knowledge and appreciation of how different disciplines, theories, models and metaphors can bring a different perspective and so greater insight to marketing issues’. They dubbed this new approach ‘informed eclecticism’. So, in sum, our paper starts with an acceptance of the fact that the market research industry needs a ‘makeover’: it must clearly explain what it can and cannot do, and clarify the future role it intends playing in the constantly changing world of business information.