{"id":4152,"date":"2025-11-06T14:23:53","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T14:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jigsaw-research.strat7.com\/?p=4152"},"modified":"2026-03-16T16:21:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T16:21:52","slug":"job-titles-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jigsaw-research.strat7.com\/us\/blog\/job-titles-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Job titles matter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u2018Market Researcher\u2019 or Alan Partridge? Job titles matter&#8230; maybe a little too much for some of us<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As researchers, we all know the slight awkwardness of introductions at social gatherings: <em>&#8220;Well, Peter, enough about my career as a frontline social worker\/artisan furniture maker\/social historian &#8211; what do you do for work?&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The world has always misunderstood, underestimated or even ignored the role of the researcher. I admit I may feel this injustice more sharply than most (and have been whingeing about it, on and off, since1987). Where public perceptions exist at all, they tend to be unflattering. We were once associated with clipboard-wielding street-corner types, hassling passers-by to answer questions about their cereal consumption &#8211; annoying, but benign. Later, we became linked with the dreaded \u201cspin doctor\u201d, conducting \u201cfocus groups\u201d to help execute their dark arts. Annoying <em>and<\/em> malign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But there is a new twist and it this that has reawakened my rancour. The other day, as I was relaxing into the new series of <em>Alan Partridge<\/em>, a scene unfolded where our titular non-hero was portrayed moderating a group discussion. Yes, Alan Partridge as a moderator! Could the reputation of our profession fall any lower?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To salvage our personal status &#8211; but also (more importantly!) to ensure we attract the best people for the job &#8211; we need to rethink the way we talk about what we do. The term <em>market researcher<\/em> is a big part of the problem. With this job title, surely it is no surprise that people tend to \u201cfall into research\u201d rather than strategically pursue the career. Despite the job title, the work itself is usually interesting, challenging, and &#8211; sometimes &#8211; even meaningful. People may stumble into the job, but they tend to hang around in it (1987!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ve ever described myself as a \u201cmarket researcher\u201d, although I may have occasionally admitted to the lesser crime of \u201cworking in market research\u201d. \u00a0What is it about <em>market research<\/em> that\u2019s so depressing? It\u2019s clearly the word <em>market<\/em>, not <em>researcher<\/em>. The term dates to the 1920s (apparently) but somehow missed out on the Roaring Twenties\u2019 glam. The name, and our fate, was sealed officially by the formation of the Market Research Society in 1946. It\u2019s no surprise that even this august body now refers to itself simply as <em>The MRS<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So how should we talk about who we are and what we do? Unless you\u2019d happily describe yourself as a \u201cconsumer detective\u201d or \u201cinsight storyteller\u201d, AI isn\u2019t the answer to this challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m not sure how other people do it, but I stick to using \u201cqualitative researcher\u201d, regretfully accepting the inevitable elaboration: \u201cI interview people, either one-to-one or in groups, to find out how they feel about issues, brands, or advertising\u201d. Or I might even say, \u201cQuantitative researchers explore the numbers; qualitative researchers explore the feelings behind them\u201d. Their eyes might glaze over but at least I get it out there!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We should also resist going too far the other way though and bigging up our role too much. I admit I\u2019m susceptible to this temptation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We could, for example, follow the lead of some of our industry leaders who argue that \u201cspeaking truth to power\u201d is one of the most important roles market researchers play &#8211; and we need to tell the world. This phrase, \u201cspeaking truth to power\u201d originated in the Quaker community and is also associated with the civil rights movement &#8211; no wonder it possesses so much moral gravitas. Of course, we\u2019d like some of that, but do we really deserve it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The claim has some credibility. It <em>is<\/em> what we do &#8211; or what we <em>should<\/em> do &#8211; at least some of the time. The job can involve delivering difficult or controversial news to critical or defensive audiences, and we owe it to clients and participants to speak up loudly and clearly. This aspect of the job is probably becoming more relevant too, as we navigate a world characterised by disinformation and subjective truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Talking about an industry that talks \u2018truth to power\u2019 makes absolute sense but, alas, it doesn\u2019t work on an individual level. For most researchers, most projects are better characterised by genuinely open clients and stakeholders &#8211; and are essentially non-controversial, no bravery required. It also sounds an embarrassingly grandiose claim and kind of brings us back to Alan Partridge. Thinking about it, it actually has more of a David Brent vibe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But at least it would settle the party-introduction challenge: \u201cMy name is Peter, and I speak truth to power\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"mailto: ptotman@jigsaw-research.co.uk\">Peter Totman<\/a>, Nov 25<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a id=\"_msocom_1\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a id=\"_msocom_2\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2018Market Researcher\u2019 or Alan Partridge? Job titles matter&#8230; maybe a little too much for some of us As researchers, we all know the slight awkwardness of introductions at social gatherings: &#8220;Well, Peter, enough about my career as a frontline social worker\/artisan furniture maker\/social historian &#8211; what do you do for work?&#8221; The world has always [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4154,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[47,52,38],"class_list":["post-4152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-insights","tag-market-research","tag-qualitative"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Job titles matter - Jigsaw Research<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How do you explain the role of a market researcher?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jigsaw-research.strat7.com\/us\/blog\/job-titles-matter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Job titles matter - 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