3D Insights - The 3rd Dimension In Research

LLM based research (or digital twins) will NOT replace traditional research, but enhance them.

Chris Robson is the VP of Managed Services at QuestionPro

For decades, the field of insights has been fundamentally divided into two primary branches: qualitative (qual) and quantitative (quant) research methodologies. While traditionally effective, these methodologies often fall short of providing a complete understanding of the intricate tapestry that comprises modern markets, customer behavior, and product performance. The introduction of Large Language Models (LLMs) has heralded a new era of insights that transcends the limitations of qual and quant. We introduce the concept of '3D Insights,' a multimodal approach that integrates a revolutionary third dimension into our understanding frameworks.

Consider the classical qual-quant framework: a financial services firm wishes to understand new customer behaviors in adopting mobile banking solutions. Traditionally, they would begin with qualitative interviews or focus groups to gather in-depth understanding, followed by quantitative surveys to measure the identified insights across a broader audience. With 3D Insights, the firm could initiate the process with an LLM-driven analysis of a synthetic cohort, which simulates customer interactions and opinions at scale, thereby uncovering unexpected behavioral drivers or barriers. This informs a quantitatively rigorous phase, potentially reshaping survey design to incorporate discovered elements, and is followed by qualitative validation to refine and contextualize the findings further. This tri-phasic approach offers the most enriching and comprehensive market insight.

For years, people have been predicting the "death" of email - just like folks are predicting the "death" of Research via Humans. The reality is that, as we progress, email is not dead - but other forms of communication augment email - like slack for work and whatsapp/iMessage for family/friends. The exact same proposition is going to happen with Synthetic Data - where it enhances research instead of replacing Qual and Quant.