From Automation to Exploration: Why Curiosity Will Drive the Future of Insight Discovery

In the rapidly evolving world of marketing research, the shift from purely automating tasks toward empowering human-led exploration has become a defining trend. In his recent Quirks article, John Bird — Executive Vice President at Infotools — makes a compelling case for why curiosity, not efficiency, will shape the future of insight discovery.

Reimagining the Role of Research

Over the past decade, research teams have poured enormous resources into speeding up workflows, automating data cleaning, dashboard creation, and reporting. These advances have certainly delivered efficiency gains, but Bird warns they’ve also risked sidelining the very essence of research: curiosity and interpretation. 

Bird recalls how modern analytics tools can surface unexpected patterns in seconds — a task that once took hours of manual analysis. But rather than simply improving speed, these tools should fuel curiosity, inviting researchers to ask richer questions like “Why are these behaviors different?” and “What underlying experiences shape these patterns?”

From Reporting to Investigating

Instead of endpoints, reports should be springboards for investigation. Bird emphasizes that the real value lies not in producing clean dashboards, but in enabling analysts to delve deeper — to move from answering “what happened” to uncovering “why it matters.” Modern technology facilitates this by seamlessly integrating disparate data sources (e.g., CX programs, sales data, tracking studies), freeing researchers to spend more time exploring and less time preparing.

Designing for Discovery

Creating environments that stimulate exploration is both a technological and a design challenge. For example, integrated dashboards that bring different datasets together can help teams spot trends and anomalies that static tables would obscure. Even playful design elements — such as engaging visuals or interactive features — can encourage users to explore, compare, and question. 

Bird shares real-world examples, such as a public transport client who transformed multiple siloed satisfaction trackers into one connected view, shifting the focus from reporting to investigation.

Shifting the Craft of Research

The essence of research is transitioning from analysis to sensemaking. With abundant data already available, the challenge is less about finding information and more about interpreting and connecting it into meaningful stories. This shift requires both smarter tools that automate repetitive tasks and human researchers who are encouraged — and rewarded — for exploration rather than perfection.

Bird urges research teams to embrace moments of curiosity — to follow anomalies, question assumptions, and pursue what doesn’t immediately fit the expected pattern. These outliers and tensions often lead to the most powerful insights.

The Core Message: Curiosity Over Efficiency

In Bird’s view, efficiency alone will not define the future of insights. Instead, organizations that foster curiosity, design for discovery, and leverage technology to support exploration — not replace questioning — will uncover deeper, more impactful insights. As he puts it: “The best insights rarely come from what we set out to prove. They come from the things that make us stop and say, ‘That’s interesting. Let’s dig into that.’”

Read the full article.