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Collaboration: learning from other fields beyond our own [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
Summary
- As we become more joined up are there still fundamental differences between market and user researchers?
- Are we becoming people who just do research? And if we are, what does that mean for our field?
- Where should the balance lie between generalization and specialization?
- And what might happen if we look to collaborate and learn outside of our own insight-generating field, and start collaborating with communities beyond our walls?
Attend all of our Advancing Research community workshops
Each free virtual workshop is made up of panelists who will share short provocations on engaging ideas to discuss as a group, as well as a leader in our field to moderate. If you're looking for discussions that challenge the status quo and can truly advance research, look no further than our workshop series. (P.S. We’ll be drawing most of our Advancing Research 2025 conference speakers from those who present at upcoming workshops—so tune in for a sneak peek of what's to come from #AR2025!)Key Insights
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Collaboration is essential not only for better insights but also for elevating the standing and strategic value of insight teams within organizations.
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Lack of collaboration across adjacent insight domains can lead to missed signals and real-world harms, as illustrated by the UK race riots example shared by Jim Ahmed.
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Democratizing insights rather than just research empowers broader teams to engage meaningfully, but requires building trust and credibility with stakeholders and participants.
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Collaboration challenges often arise from different agendas and priorities across siloed teams, requiring intentional relationship building and conversation beyond transactional exchanges.
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The shift from specialists working in isolation toward 'learn it all' mindsets promotes openness to being wrong and encourages collaborative growth amid rapidly changing domains like AI.
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Combining qualitative UX research with quantitative data analytics provides a more comprehensive understanding of user pain points and behaviors.
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Collaborating early and co-creating in discovery phases, including involving engineers and other disciplines, leads to deeper insights and stronger shared ownership.
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Sustained, horizontal collaboration with research participants and communities is preferable over vertical, extractive research models, though power dynamics remain a challenge.
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Emotional regulation and trust-building are crucial soft skills in collaboration to ensure stakeholders feel cared for and engaged rather than rushed or dismissed.
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There is no one-size-fits-all approach; successful collaboration depends on organizational scale, maturity, context, and continuous culture change efforts.
Notable Quotes
"While people care about collaboration, it’s not always at the top of the to-do list."
"We need to democratize insights, not just democratize research."
"The system we rely on is ironically an approximation engine, like large language models that calculate approximations."
"You have to invest in relationships so you can ask for a favor later; collaboration is like a marriage you work on every day."
"Insights are networked; they don’t exist independently beyond how they’re absorbed and acted on by others."
"Nobody’s an AI expert; it changes every day. Anyone who says they are is a fraud."
"Collaboration is much more than creating a meeting or structure; if there’s no trust and respect, people won’t show up."
"Non-attachment to our insights and to our identities opens space for growth and better collaboration."
"Sustained collaboration with communities through advisory groups can help steer research to be more equitable."
"The big question to ask in collaboration is: what is the main question you’re trying to answer and why does it matter?"
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