Name: Observing the relationship between scientific methodology and insight generation
Uploaded: 2022-09-23T12:57:11.068Z
Duration: 326.33
Description: Observing the relationship between scientific methodology and insight generation.

Observing the relationship between scientific methodology and insight generation.vtt

English

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We're not report delivery
people, we're not here to just

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run tests and give people data.

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We're here to support
and be consultive.

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Now, how do we do that?

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We do that with the data.

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We do that because we are
inspired by scientists.

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Marie Curie, Daniel Kahneman, and
one of my favorites, Neil deGrasse

{{00:00:32}}
Tyson, who, through one of his very
first experiments, proved that the

{{00:00:40}}
jock nerd dichotomy was a false hood.

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That you could be both.

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That people like me could both
live in the athletic world

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and then be nerdy as all heck.

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And become scientists.

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Right?

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And so, you know, one of the reasons
I think that this is important

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though, that the basis for scientific
thought and scientific process is

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of course the scientific method.

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And I think this lines up really well
with how we approach insights and

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how we approach the work that we do.

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Right?

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So you start with observation.

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And I say start, but everything's
a circle of course, as is

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portrayed here, but that that's
the insight phase of things.

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Right?

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And then you have your question.

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You're doing your insight work,
and now you have your question,

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which is your problem to solve.

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What's going on?

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What is it that we need to solve?

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This can be a business
question, consumer question,

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any other sort of things.

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Then you start getting into
your hypotheses, which is you

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start developing your concepts
and your positionings in

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order to solve said problem.

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Right?

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And then you get to
the experiment phase.

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That's your methodology, that's
your actual research, your analysis,

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and then your conclusions, right?

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You have your go, no, go.

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And then when something's
in market, you validate how

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successful your whole process was.

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Right?

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Now most people on the outside of
insights, when they think of insights,

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they think about the concept testing.

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They think about the creative tests.

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They think about testing,
literal things, like a lot

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of AB testing type stuff.

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We spend a lot of time on the
insight and problem to solve the

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foundational aspects of the work.

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Right?

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Cause this is what drives everything.

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One of the things that people
don't, you know, on the outside of

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science, don't quite understand.

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I was a major in science.

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I was a biology major for three years
until eventually the Dean said, if you

{{00:02:29}}
want to graduate, you should consider
something else, which kind of hurt.

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But I did graduate just
not, not in biology.

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But from the outside, everything about
science is the experiment, right.

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And the magic of the experiment.

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But the reality is, in a good
scientific method, a good scientific

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process, the experiment and
the analysis aren't surprising,

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like idiot, you are proving a
hypothesis or disproving the

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null hypothesis hypothesis.

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Right?

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There are very few surprises.

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That's kind of the easy part, like
in an experiment that results in

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something you didn't expect is
actually very rare because all the

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work is done upfront, where you do
all this analysis to understand what's

{{00:03:09}}
going on, put together a correct
hypothesis on the foundations that

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you have, and then launch something.

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Right?

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And this is a quick example of 18th
hole of Steeple Chase Golf Course

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in Mundelein, Illinois, right?

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Five minutes where I live.

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This hole kills me.

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I don't know if you can see the
pointer, but like, up way up at the top

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of the trees over here is the tee box.

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It's a par five.

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I've lost so many balls here.

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I use this, to show that look, if
I'm a hundred yards out and then

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it's orange for a reason, right?

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This is kind of end-phase experimental.

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And I miss my shot by 10 degrees.

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I'm still putting right.

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I'm still, I still have a shot to make
a score or still have a shot to score.

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Well, that was, that was a good phrase.

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If I'm 200 yards out, right.

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This is purple.

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This is further upstream.

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And I missed by that
same 10 degrees, right?

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10 degrees off I'm in the water.

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I'm way off.

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I've lost this stroke.

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That the difference is huge.

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And I still have to go
back and re hit anyways.

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Right?

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The point being.

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The further off you are at the
beginning, the more you have

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to make up for at the end.

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And you might not even know
how far off you are, right?

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Where all of this focus, I think
internally, like when, when I hear

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marketers talk about insights, they
talk about getting faster and, you

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know, and getting cheaper, right.

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Which are all great, important things.

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Versus like the insights that are
bigger, robust, really powerful

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type things that are driving
corporate strategy, versus

{{00:04:56}}
the kind of like, let's find
quicker ways to do AB testing.

{{00:05:00}}
Right.

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Let's be very clear, like even
within PepsiCo, we have devoted

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a huge amount of resources to
developing our own internal systems

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for faster, less expensive, more
efficient ways of doing research.

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That's not to say these
things aren't necessary.

{{00:05:15}}
I would just argue that
like our strategic chops

{{00:05:19}}
come from more than this.

We're not report delivery
people, we're not here to just

We do that because we are
inspired by scientists.

Marie Curie, Daniel Kahneman, and
one of my favorites, Neil deGrasse

Tyson, who, through one of his very
first experiments, proved that the

That people like me could both
live in the athletic world

And so, you know, one of the reasons
I think that this is important

though, that the basis for scientific
thought and scientific process is

And I think this lines up really well
with how we approach insights and

And I say start, but everything's
a circle of course, as is

portrayed here, but that that's
the insight phase of things.

You're doing your insight work,
and now you have your question,

This can be a business
question, consumer question,

Then you start getting into
your hypotheses, which is you

start developing your concepts
and your positionings in

And then you get to
the experiment phase.

That's your methodology, that's
your actual research, your analysis,

And then when something's
in market, you validate how

Now most people on the outside of
insights, when they think of insights,

They think about testing,
literal things, like a lot

We spend a lot of time on the
insight and problem to solve the

One of the things that people
don't, you know, on the outside of

I was a biology major for three years
until eventually the Dean said, if you

want to graduate, you should consider
something else, which kind of hurt.

But I did graduate just
not, not in biology.

But from the outside, everything about
science is the experiment, right.

But the reality is, in a good
scientific method, a good scientific

process, the experiment and
the analysis aren't surprising,

like idiot, you are proving a
hypothesis or disproving the

That's kind of the easy part, like
in an experiment that results in

something you didn't expect is
actually very rare because all the

work is done upfront, where you do
all this analysis to understand what's

going on, put together a correct
hypothesis on the foundations that

And this is a quick example of 18th
hole of Steeple Chase Golf Course

I don't know if you can see the
pointer, but like, up way up at the top

I use this, to show that look, if
I'm a hundred yards out and then

I'm still, I still have a shot to make
a score or still have a shot to score.

And I missed by that
same 10 degrees, right?

And I still have to go
back and re hit anyways.

The further off you are at the
beginning, the more you have

And you might not even know
how far off you are, right?

Best Practice

Observing the relationship between scientific methodology and insight generation.

thumbnail_Doug Healy.jfif

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Doug Healy.jfif

Doug Healy

Senior Director , Consumer Insights - Gatorade 

Links can be identified at different stages in the two distinct processes: observation to conclusion in the scientific methodology process, and insight to validation in the insight generation process.

Chapter 1: Inspiration

Experiments are the basis of scientific methodology. As a result of the strict process, results are mostly predictable. You are either proving the hypothesis or disproving it.

Chapter 2: Experiment

Healy uses a real life example to explain how his insight generation methodology based on scientific methodology process works. 

Chapter 3: Practical example

Healy shares considerations around the applications of the scientific methodology approach to insight generation applied to corporate.