MR and Quantum Physics

 30 March 2021

Carlo Rovelli's writings on Quantum Physics is amazing and made me ponder about the close connection that exists between the principles of Market Research and that of Quantum Physics.

One of the interesting implications of Quantum Physics (QP) is that the properties of objects seem to change depending on whether they are being observed or not.  Quantum entanglement means that two objects seem to be able to affect each other even when they are too far apart for any information from one to reach the other : "a photon on venus could be changed by a photo taken in Venice".  This weird science finds practical use every day, forming the basis of our latest technologies : from computers to nuclear power.

So how does this relate to our humble Market Research? There was a time (before large data bases automatically collected real-time behavioural data) where consumer behaviour data was the exclusive domain of the MR industry.  Behavioural data was largely collected by Market Researchers either by a) asking people how they behaved or b) by observing people in their natural surroundings (e.g. in a store or kitchen) and recording their behaviour.  

Since stated behaviour was prone to falsification and exaggeration, most methodologies over a period of time increasingly veered towards observation i.e. methodology (b) above.  Apparently this would ensure that the behavioural data reflected reality.  What Market Researchers mostly down-played was the fact that that the very act of observing people (even in their natural surroundings) tended to influence consumer behaviour.  If fact I have several interesting anecdotes of how the very act of observing used to make respondents to behave strangely - but I will leave the narration of these anecdotes for another post.

In the developed world, behavioural data has now largely moved out of the Market Research data collection process as clients now-a-days have access to large, accurate and real-time actual consumer behaviour data - and which is not influenced by the act of observation. This is a big loss for the traditional MR agencies for whom collection of (stated or observed) behavioural data was a big source of revenue.

So, back to QP - the more I read about it, the more I realise the inter-connectedness of everything we do, and how operating in siloed thinking often result in our undoing.