Human Attributes That Enhance AI Research
There is a wide range of human emotions in response to the explosion of AI around the world, from feelings of dread and impending disaster to enormous enthusiasm and early adoption. My tendencies are definitely on the side of enthusiasm, particularly in the area of marketing research. This perspective is grounded in the belief that AI research represents a new methodology that enhances our toolkit. When AI and human expertise come together, the whole truly becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
In previous articles, I have documented the many benefits of AI research, such as in “Beyond the Traditional: AI as the Fourth Category of Marketing Research”. The purpose of this article is not to incite a debate between AI and human research capabilities. Instead, the goal is to emphasize the unique combination of AI and human expertise, which creates a powerful collaboration that elevates research outcomes. Specifically, this article will focus on identifying key human characteristics that can be applied by professional researchers to enhance AI Research.
Human expertise in research can be roughly categorized into four areas: Emotional Skills, Cognitive Skills, Contextual Abilities, and Interpersonal Abilities. Below, the human qualities under each of these categories are outlined.
A Cardinal Rule of Research
In marketing research, one of the most important principles is that all findings, insights, conclusions, and recommendations must be based on the data and not influenced by personal opinions, biases, or worldviews. Our role as researchers is to interpret and present the data as accurately and objectively as possible, ensuring that our conclusions are a reflection of what the research truly reveals.
While human traits such as creativity, intuition, and empathy play essential roles in connecting with research participants and generating insights, these characteristics must operate within the framework of objective data analysis. It is important to maintain a clear distinction between leveraging our human expertise to interpret data and allowing our subjective experiences to distort or bias the findings.
Within this context, the human qualities discussed below should be seen as human attributes that enrich data interpretation without compromising the rigor and objectivity demanded by the marketing research discipline.
Emotional Skills
Emotional Agility: Remaining open to new ideas and maintaining objectivity while recognizing and managing one’s own emotions when circumstances or information changes.
Empathy: The capacity to understand and share the feelings of others. Researchers use this to better comprehend human behaviors, motivations, and pain points by putting themselves in the shoes of the target audience.
Sensitivity to Others: Perceiving and respecting the emotions and perspectives of others. This is a critical skill in research, especially when working with diverse populations.
Ethical Decision-Making: Aligning with ethical guidelines and moral principles. This is fundamental to the research process.
Ability to Read Body Language and Tone Of Voice: Interpreting non-verbal cues such as gestures, posture, or vocal inflections to gain insights beyond the spoken word. This is particularly useful in qualitative research.
Cognitive Skills
Common Sense: The use of everyday reasoning and practical knowledge to make sound judgments. It is a key element in interpreting research results within real-world contexts.
Creativity: Generating new and original ideas, sometimes by connecting seemingly unrelated ideas or concepts. Creativity fuels innovation in research methodology, data interpretation, and finding novel solutions to complex problems.
Critical Thinking: Evaluating and analyzing information to form conclusions and recommendations. While AI excels at analytics and pattern recognition, humans add value with contextual understanding, adaptability, creativity, and ethical reasoning.
Curiosity: Humans like to explore, ask questions, and dig deeper into things that interest them. This drives researchers to go beyond surface-level findings and uncover rich insights.
Divergent and Convergent Thinking: Divergent thinking involves exploring multiple potential solutions to a problem, while convergent thinking narrows those possibilities down to the most effective solution. Both forms of thinking are vital in research design and analysis.
Insight: The ability to gain deep understanding from data by uncovering hidden patterns or underlying truths. Insight often comes from a combination of experience and analytical thinking.
Intuition: Knowing or understanding that does not rely on conscious reasoning. It is often based on experience and/or subconscious pattern recognition, adding depth to data interpretation.
Rational Agility: The ability to quickly and flexibly adapt or change reasoning and decision-making in response to new or changing information or complex situations.
Contextual Abilities
Ability to Link Disparate Ideas: Generating new insights or solutions based on connecting unrelated or abstract concepts. This is the ability to connect the dots between seemingly unrelated pieces of information in meaningful ways.
Understanding Market Dynamics: Understanding of the industry or market environment, including its trends, competitive landscape, and cultural factors. This allows the researcher to contextualize research findings in the real world.
Historical Lens: Drawing on lived experience and knowledge of history to shape data interpretation. This is one area in which researchers must balance subjectivity and objectivity as this can enrich analysis but also introduce bias.
Interpersonal Abilities
Excellence in Communications and Storytelling: The ability to convey research findings in a clear, compelling, and engaging way.
In Conclusion
The rise of AI Research is not about replacing human expertise but enhancing it. Together, AI and human researchers complement the other’s strengths. AI offers speed, data-processing power, and pattern recognition on a scale that humans cannot match, but it lacks the nuanced understanding, creativity, and emotional intelligence that only humans bring to the table.
The key to success in this new era of research is leveraging the strengths of both AI and human expertise. By applying our emotional, cognitive, contextual, and interpersonal skills to enrich AI-driven insights, we can achieve a deeper, more accurate, and impactful understanding of the data and the people behind the data.
Kirsty Nunez is the President and Chief Research Strategist at Q2 Insights a research and innovation consulting firm with international reach and offices in San Diego. Q2 Insights specializes in many areas of research and predictive analytics, and actively uses AI products to enhance the speed and quality of insights delivery while still leveraging human researcher expertise and experience.
