Written by Lydia Fuller, COO at Acumen Fieldwork.
Over the past couple of years, I’ve witnessed first hand the seismic shifts reshaping the market research industry, none more so, than Covid. Overnight, the research industry was forced to pivot, to learn new skills and to show its ability to adapt to change, and quickly.
Today we see artificial intelligence dominating headlines and boardroom conversations – everyone has an opinion on it and like Covid, the impact of AI is going to be seen and felt across industries and sectors, we in the world of Market Research are not going to be alone navigating this new world.
For me, 2025 has been the year of embracing AI and new technology, playing with different tools and platforms, understanding how to get the best from it, testing where it can help, where it can save time and where it’s simply not sophisticated enough to … yet. It’s been the year of upskilling myself, joining in the big debates and starting to have a point of view on how we are going to incorporate it into workflows and processes.
What I find particularly interesting is that 2025 has also been the year where I’ve observed a resurgence of face-to-face research. When Covid hit and the world of Qualitative Research moved online, there was a big question mark about the future of face-to-face, and the number of viewing facilities that sadly closed their doors in the subsequent years only supported this feeling.
Yet this year, it’s made a (long, overdue) comeback. Of course, there’s still been lots of online methodologies, but clients are, once again, requesting in-person research and online doesn’t feel the automatic default option. Where it previously felt quite challenging to convince clients as to the value of face to face, to motivate them out of their homes, to get them to want to travel to in-person sessions or to be able to justify the additional venue costs, something feels like it’s changed.
And for me, it’s no surprise that these two, quite polar changes seem to have occurred alongside each other. As the world embraces AI, the need for real, authentic, human connection is stronger than ever. AI is enabling the research industry to move at speed, to process vast datasets, quickly identify patterns and deliver initial findings faster than ever before. However, somewhere within this world of speed and technology has highlighted the need to make sure that the human remains front and centre of why we exist.
Maybe as an antidote to AI, I sense clients wanting to connect with consumers in an authentic way, to see the whites of their eyes, hear the subtle inflections of their voices and observe them as they go about their behaviours, confident in their validity as humans and not bots.
We’ve seen increases in focus groups, ethnography, accompanied shops, observations and intercepts and I see a renewed vigour for client teams choosing to come together to observe research sessions away from the day-to-day distractions of the job. These in-person methods allowing them as a team the time to observe, discuss, debate and move projects forward with consensus, in a way that isn’t so easy to do online.
Looking ahead to 2026 I see we still have a way to go in navigating AI and what it means for our industry, I don’t think anyone quite has the answer just yet, but I feel excited that we have a new tool in our armoury, one that helps speed up our processes and allows us time to focus on where we can add the most value.
We can debate the merits of moderator bots and synthetic participants all we like and I’m sure in this new world, each will have their place. I’m confident that we as an industry will embrace this new technology and adapt and pivot where necessary as we learn more about AI’s capabilities, just as we have done before.
But most importantly, the crux of what we stand for as an industry doesn’t change: connecting with humans, telling their stories, bringing to life their voices and keeping them at the forefront when it comes to decision making.
Wow – What a whirlwind of a year. What is it they say? “Change is the only constant in life” (and when I say they, I mean the Greek philosopher Heraclitus apparently) and it certainly feels like change is going at the speed of light.
For 2026, it seems like its an evolve or die situation and if nothing else, its going to be fascinating.
Reflecting on this year, a few notable changes spring to mind. Other than the mind-blowing words added to the Oxford English dictionary, which include “Trad wife” “delulu” and “skibidi”
I’d say there are no words but clearly there is!
My 10 year old delights trying to decode which dupes come from which original brand in the makeup section of any store. And even I clocked Aldi doing a hand cream that looked suspiciously like L’Occitane. Now I know that this has been going a while but it seems like a turning point has been reached this year and dupes are mainstream. I’m going to guess the cost of living has sky rocketed the dupe market, but now its here, it’s here to stay. It feels everyone is questioning value (and not just monetary) and where that really lies. Can anyone really tell the difference between a dupe and the real thing? And does anyone care?
I don’t think we have yet understood the huge and wide-ranging implications of this remarkable breakthrough drug. Having had 1st hand experience of using these, I’m not sure we have grasped the extent of change to come. From what we buy in the supermarket to how we eat out need immediate research to keep up with changing attitudes. But further than that, how do we keep up with attitudes to supplements and even the way we buy clothes?
My own changes have been radically changing what I buy at the supermarket – crisp brands you should be scared! Only really eating out at Wagamama’s if I can help it (oh I love Waga’s could write a whole piece on why they are wonderful) as well as buying supplements like Collagen and Creatine for the 1st time. And my new passion…Vinted! I find the things I have that I love in a smaller size and then sell my bigger ones-MAGIC!
Sorry I have to mention it. Don’t worry, not going to tell you I’ve got it down and I now sip margarita’s in the sun having outsourced my brain to AI. Although I would quite happily, if I knew how! And that is what this section is about, getting a clue about AI. Going back to my fascinating chat about new words, Dictionary.com chose “agentic” as their word of the year for 2025. Apparently, it refers to AI! But my resolution for 2026 is to get to grips with AI and really make an effort to understand its uses and capabilities. Its very clear there is huge scope for efficiencies and speed of turn around so where do I start…….I start by admitting I am pretty in the dark and get people who are not in to help and guide me. Hint: no AI was used in the writing of this piece.
As we get to the festive period (not something I relish sorry) a couple of things have stood out to me (other than me becoming more Grinch like each year)
I won’t rant but they are awful. I genuinely do not understand why they are permanently heaving. My friend was recently telling me (quite happily I might add) that she queued for 30 mins for a bubble tea! My mind was blown. Apparently it’s the best bubble tea and I clearly didn’t get it. She was right -I DO NOT get it! I was reflecting on this later, having had the misfortune of seeing the queues for food stalls for myself and I think it is a metaphor for the current climate we live in. Short term relatively low-cost fixes to try and feel better.
Almost a complete set of awfulness. Waitrose was the only exception for me (but not going to start shopping there sadly) Is the whole concept now outdated, or were they just not very well considered? Again, this is a whole thing on its own but if I were a few of the major retailers. I’d be having a really hard think for next year.
Particularly bad ads (only in my view this isn’t rage bait) were Tesco and Sainsbury. Why Tesco insisted on pointing out all the stuff people don’t like about xmas is beyond me. And why Sainsbury use Stephen Fry to voice over “good food for all of us” doesn’t make any sense to me. I really didn’t like Sainsbury using the WW2 xmas day football match to sell a few satsumas but that now looks like genius in the current onslaught of rubbish. Even Aldi let me down. Discuss.
Hope you have your seat belts on ready for the ride that is 2026. It is going to be an evolve or die year. Let’s not be scared though – embrace the chaos and let creativity reign.
And I will be trying to keep in mind the wonderful Charles Mackinsey’s quote from The boy, the mole, the fox and the horse: “One of our greatest freedoms is how we react to things.”
Screeners are integral to ensuring participants are recruited correctly, and they’re also one of the first things a participant will see and fill in when they want to take part in research, so it’s really important we get them right! Market research at its core is about understanding people, and our first opportunity to do that often comes from their survey application, so it’s important that the language we use within our screeners set a standard from the start that we want them to feel comfortable and safe to answer all questions honestly.
With this in mind, we’ve recently re-looked at the way we ask standard questions to ensure we’re remaining as inclusive as we can be.
Though thankfully few and far between, we sometimes receive screeners where the only gender options are male, female and other which is why we need solid standard questions to ensure our practices remain inclusive and respectful to all. Our standard gender question reads:
The following question is related to how you describe your gender identity. To ensure we’re speaking to a representative sample, please can you tell me how you describe your gender identity?
[ ] 1. Woman
[ ] 2. Man
[ ] 3. Non-binary
[ ] 4. Gender non-confirming
[ ] 5. Prefer to self-describe:
[ ] 6. Prefer not to say
Previously, options 1 and 2 read as female and male, but we’ve updated it to ‘woman’ and ‘man’ because female and male focus more on biological sex and can often exclude transgender people, but woman and man are social terms that acknowledge a wider range of gender identities. We don’t ever want anyone not to apply for something they’re interested in because the first questions they answer aren’t as inclusive as they can be, so it’s important that the language we use is affirming to ensure that all those filling it in feel seen and heard, which in turn shows that we want them to feel safe to express their opinions, which after all is what market research is all about.
We have also updated our question to check whether participants have any access requirements that we need to be aware of to encourage participants to share anything that they’re comfortable sharing with us. This question can often just be seen as referring to physical disabilities, but we want everyone to feel comfortable to tell us the adjustments they’d need to take part. This may include step-free access or large print materials, but we also want to know if a participant feels like they might need to take a pause, or if they’d prefer to take part in a quieter environment or smaller group where we have the option.
We also use and have evaluated our standard questions for things like sexuality, ethnicity etc and we update these based on feedback from participants. For example, participants have fed back to us that Sri Lankan should be included on our ethnicity question, so that is now included. This blog post would be a lot longer if we went into detail on every question (and believe me, we could), but it’s really important that our screeners are as inclusive as they can be! They’re often the first way a participant will express interest in a project, so we need to make sure that when they do apply, we’ve created a welcoming environment for everyone to answer honestly.
Written by Robyn Simner, Project Manager at Acumen.
We care about getting this right. And we know lots of others do too.
If you’d like advice, guidance, or even just a second pair of eyes, you know where we are.
How do you sum up twenty years of fieldwork? Endless interviews, countless cups of tea, and enough unpredictable moments to keep us on our toes the whole way through.
We’ve seen the industry shift, tech transform, and project briefs grow from two pages to twenty slides. But what hasn’t changed? The people, the stories, and the research that drives it all.
In true Acumen style, we’re celebrating the moments that made us laugh, sweat, swell with pride and sometimes all three.
Getting Lost in Translation: A Poster and a Confused Welsh Village
Rewinding to the early days before the age of AI, we were running a community project in rural Wales. Everything was going smoothly… until we realised the recruitment poster needed to be bilingual. Google Translate to the rescue! Or so we thought.
A call from a perplexed leisure centre receptionist soon revealed our Welsh version was… gibberish. Thankfully, she kindly offered to translate it herself. Lesson learned: always check translations with a native speaker and never underestimate the patience of rural communities.
Even the Best-Laid Plans Can Go Bananas
Fast forward to our ‘Wonderful World of Field’ conference at London Zoo. Mid-break, the animal escape alarm went off. Delegates were marooned while security scrambled to track down a rogue gorilla who, in the meantime, had discovered a bottle of Vimto. The gorilla had drunk the lot before being safely escorted back.
A legendary story, and a reminder that the best fieldwork moments often come from the unexpected.
Understanding the Barriers
While our fieldwork adventures have given us plenty of laughs, they’ve also been punctuated by moments of real impact.
In 2022, we partnered with Guide Dogs UK to explore how the built environment affects the lives and independence of people with visual impairments. Through an online survey with nearly 400 participants, we identified which features of public spaces posed the greatest challenges, and how Covid measures may have amplified them.
Accessibility and empathy guided every step. We prioritised inclusive design, offered clear communication about incentive payments, and ensured participants had access to Guide Dogs’ support services if any topics felt difficult.
The response was heartfelt. Participants praised the survey’s accessibility, and the findings have since drawn national attention, now being developed into a White Paper for Parliament.
For us, it was a humbling reminder that inclusive design isn’t just about spaces. It’s about equality, independence, and ensuring every voice can be heard.
Capturing Truth in Unprecedented Times
Another poignant project took place in 2024, when we helped Verian Group recruit 600 young people aged 9–22 for face-to-face interviews as part of Module 8 of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry. We explored how children and young people experienced the pandemic, adapted to sudden change, and coped with its real-world impacts.
Reaching vulnerable and seldom-heard audiences required care, patience, and creativity. Phone calls, Zooms, and in-person visits built trust, while safeguarding and age-appropriate communication ensured participants felt comfortable and heard.
It was intense, meaningful work. Every insight contributed to a national understanding of the pandemic’s effects, proving that research isn’t just numbers and charts; it’s people, stories, and decisions that shape lives.
Thank You for the Memories
Looking back, it’s not the spreadsheets or surveys we remember. It’s the people, the laughter, and the “we’ll figure it out” moments that define us.
Here’s to the projects that pushed us, the partners who trusted us, and the fieldwork stories that still make us smile twenty years on.
And here’s to the next chapter, because we’re just getting started.
Ah, the noughties. A simpler time when you’d find us in our bootcut jeans, flicking through printed recruitment lists while twirling the curly cord of the office landline and waiting for the dial tone.
If you’ve been in fieldwork research since then, you’ll know one thing for sure: a lot has changed.
Twenty years ago, the hottest debate in the office was probably whose turn it was on the fax machine. Fast forward to today, and the whole industry is talking about automation, APIs, and AI tools that can screen, segment, and schedule faster than you can say “quota full.”
So, to celebrate twenty years of Acumen, let’s take a quick (and slightly nostalgic) stroll down memory lane.
The Early 2000s: Clipboards, Coffee and (a little) Chaos
The golden age of paper diaries and printouts. When “going into field” literally meant going into field. Recruitment lists and interview guides were scribbled by hand, and the words “last-minute replacement” could send an entire team into meltdown.
Spreadsheets were revolutionary. Email chains ran into the hundreds. And if someone told you they’d found respondents on social media, you’d have probably asked, “What’s MySpace?”
It was a hands-on, highlighter-heavy era, and the foundations of modern market research fieldwork were laid right there.
The 2010s: Enter Digital
It’s hard to believe how much changed in ten years. Goodbye fax machine, hello digital everything, from online panels to mobile surveys. Seemingly overnight, we could suddenly reach respondents, faster, cheaper and across continents. Follow-ups no longer meant chasing with a phone call (though we all secretly missed the curly cord).
It was also a decade of experimentation. Webcam interviews? Sure. Online focus groups? Why not. A survey that works on BlackBerry? Yeah…maybe not.
And yet, while technology made life easier, it also made expectations higher. Clients wanted more, faster. And respondents expected smoother research experiences – maybe to make up for the lack of biscuits in the digital world.
Today: Tech-Savvy and Human Centred
Now, we live in a world of data, dashboards and delightfully complicated workflows. CRM systems talk to recruitment tools. Fieldwork lives in ‘the cloud’ not just the field. And if you mention doing something ‘manually’, some youthful whizz will probably have automated it for you by lunchtime.
But behind it all, it’s still people.
Behind the dashboards and smart tech are the teams who keep projects moving, who calm nerves when respondents ghost, and who somehow manage to get 20 hard-to-reach professionals on a Teams call before 9am.
The tools may have changed, but the essence of great qualitative and quantitative research hasn’t. It’s still about building trust, solving problems, and making sure even the quietest voice is heard.
Here’s to the Next 20 Years
If the last two decades have taught us anything, it’s that change happens and often at pace. The fieldwork of the future might involve predictive analytics, voice recruitment or AI screeners, but it still needs real humans who get it, manage it, and make it happen.
Because fieldwork will always be people work, no matter how advanced the tools become.
So, here’s to another twenty years of learning, levelling up and laughter along the way.
Budget, budget, budget.
It’s the bane of every project and the backbone of them all.
You want to run great research, get the insights, and deliver the results. But that number you’re working with? It seems to shrink every time you check it.
We all know, fieldwork isn’t predictable. One minute everything’s on track. The next, recruitment gets tricky, timelines shift, incentives change, and suddenly that neatly planned budget looks a little less neat.
Even with a comfortable budget, small leaks can turn into big costs fast. A good contingency helps but knowing where those leaks start is what really keeps projects (and finance teams) happy.
So, if you’re a researcher, insight lead, or agency partner who’s ever found yourself explaining where the money went, this one’s for you.
Download our free guide: 6 Hidden Culprits That Will Drain Your Fieldwork Budget
Practical, real-world advice from people who’ve been there, managed that, and kept the numbers in check.
Market research always sounds so straightforward, right? Jot down a few questions, run a survey, chat to some people and watch the insights roll in. Pftt, it’s a piece of cake, right?
Right?!
If you’ve ever done market research, you’ll know it’s usually quite the opposite. A lot can (and does) wrong. And when it does, the results aren’t just unhelpful. They can mislead you and give you a false sense of confidence.
The good news? With the right planning and perspective, most of these challenges can be avoided.
Here are five common mistakes we see in research projects and how to sidestep them:
Asking the wrong research questions
If your survey starts with “How excited are you about our new product?”…congratulations, your leading question has already assumed excitement. Spoiler: not everyone’s excited.
Well-designed research starts with well-designed questions. Too often, we see survey questions or discussion guides that unintentionally lead participants toward positive responses, shutting out neutral or negative feedback.
The result? You think everyone shares your excitement, until the product launches and reality disagrees.
If your questions are leading, confusing or full of jargon, the answers won’t mean much.
How to avoid it: The right market research questions are clear, neutral, and free of jargon to gather honest feedback. At Acumen, we pilot test materials to make sure respondents interpret questions consistently, giving clients data they can trust.
Talking to the wrong people
Imagine a doctor’s surgery wanting to improve its online appointment booking system but only emailing the survey to patients. The results from digitally savvy patients will roll in and suggest everything’s fine, yet the very people struggling with the system remain unheard.
How to avoid it: Recruitment matters. Good fieldwork ensures that the right mix of voices are represented. We use rigorous screening and recruitment checks to make sure every study reaches the people who matter most to the question at hand.
People don’t always tell the truth
Human behaviour is complex. Ask someone if recycling is good, they’ll say yes. Ask if they’d pay extra for a recycling bin…they’ll probably still say yes. But will they actually? They might only be saying yes because it feels like the ‘right’ answer. Good market research isn’t about just listening to the answers.
How to avoid it: Combine what people say with what they actually do. Observation, task-based exercises, and usability testing provide richer insight than words alone. Our research designs often integrate multiple methods, so clients see the full picture.
Confirmation bias creeps in
It can be tempting to hear a lukewarm comment like “that could be interesting,” and the mind translates it as glowing endorsement.
That’s confirmation bias. It’s human. It’s natural. And it’s deadly for data collection. If you only see what supports your hunch and ignore the awkward truths, you’ll walk away with a very rosy, but very inaccurate picture.
How to avoid it: Build in independent checks. At Acumen, we work with clients to establish clear criteria before fieldwork begins, so findings are assessed objectively, not filtered through wishful thinking.
Getting stuck in analysis paralysis
Drowning in charts, debating tiny percentage differences, and delaying decisions. Sound familiar? Research should move you forward, not hold you back.
How to avoid it: Start with the “so what?” Every project should be designed to answer a decision-making question. By focusing on clarity over volume, we help clients turn data into actionable insights rather than expensive trivia.
The truth about market research
Conducting market research isn’t about perfection. It’s about clarity, honesty, and relevance. By asking better open-ended questions, reaching the right participants, balancing words with behaviour, keeping bias in check, and focusing on outcomes, market research becomes what it’s meant to be: a reliable compass for smarter decisions.
At Acumen, we partner with clients to design and deliver fieldwork that avoids these pitfalls, turning messy realities and pain points into insights that genuinely drive progress.
Picture this: It’s 10am on a rainy Tuesday. Sharon, a district nurse, is halfway through her fourth home visit. One hand wrestles a broken umbrella, the other clutches a buzzing phone. Her kit bag is overflowing. The pill packet looks identical to the last one. The kitchen is cramped, the lights are dim, and the family dog won’t stop barking. All the while, she reassures an anxious relative that, yes, the right medication has been prescribed.
Stressed? Absolutely. Mistakes waiting to happen? Possibly.
Looking at this from a human factors’ perspective, it’s not about blaming Sharon if human errors are made. It’s about understanding how the situation could lead to errors, recognising the pressure she’s under, and designing safeguards to catch problems before the storm even starts.
So, what are human factors anyway?
Human factors are the science of how people interact with their tools, tasks, and surroundings. Put simply: sometimes things go brilliantly, and sometimes they go spectacularly wrong.
Ergonomics and human factors
Human factors are broader than ergonomics (and we aren’t just talking about fancy desk chairs, trust us). Ergonomic principles consider the physical interaction between people, products, and environments. Think posture, reach, grip, or screen readability. Human factors principles involve everything to do with human interaction, how people think, feel and how this influences behaviour, not just how they interact physically.
Human factors in healthcare
In healthcare, human factors are the hidden forces shaping how care is delivered. They influence things like:
Fatigue and workload – because yes, night shifts and never-ending patient lists do take a toll
Communication and teamwork – a rushed handover or quick ‘brain download’ can mean a missed diagnosis
Equipment and environment – confusing pill packaging, chaotic wards, or poorly designed tools
Decision-making under pressure – ever tried solving a complex puzzle while ten people shout?
Human factors don’t just explain why errors happen; they also show us how to prevent them in the first place.
Why human factors in healthcare matter
Because healthcare is messy. Unlike a brick factory, where identical blocks roll off the line, every patient is different. They bring their own health histories, anxieties, and quirks.
Now add over-stretched staff, high stakes, and the emotional intensity of lives literally in their hands, and you’ve got one of the most challenging workplaces imaginable.
Human factors research helps us to make sense of the messiness. Without it, we wouldn’t have the innovations and improvements that make equipment and devices safer, easier to use, and more effective for everyone – from patients to caregivers and clinicians.
Human factors research in healthcare can focus on:
Reducing medical errors
Spotting potential hazards – think of Sharon and her near-identical pill packets
Designing medical devices and systems to be intuitive
And this is just the start.
Sound obvious? Maybe. But the devil is in the detail. Studying human factors means digging deep into how people really interact with their environment, so we can design solutions that actually work.
Human factors research in healthcare: A real-world example
Take one of our clients, for example. We worked together on a study with people who currently have, or have previously had, a neurostimulator implant.
A patient programmer is a small, hand-held device that lets patients adjust their implanted deep brain stimulation (DBS) or spinal cord stimulation (SCS) system. Within safe limits set by their clinician, patients can use it to fine-tune their own therapy.
In this study, participants were asked to try out a patient programmer designed for people with DBS implants. They were given a series of hands-on tasks to complete using the device and then asked to share their feedback.
The programmer wasn’t connected to an implant during the sessions, so it didn’t affect anyone’s therapy. The goal? Usability: Could patients operate it easily? Adjust stimulation smoothly? Read the screen clearly?
Thanks to these sessions, our client gained rich insights to make the device more intuitive, user-friendly, and effective, helping patients manage their therapy more safely and smoothly.
Pretty cool, right?
Enabling excellence
Human factors research isn’t just preventing human errors. It’s about enabling excellence. A device that makes a patient’s daily therapy easier? Human factors. A district nurse who administers the right medicine despite chaos? Human factors again.
So, next time you hear “human factors”, don’t shrug it off as jargon. Think of:
Sharon, juggling a buzzing phone, broken umbrella, cramped kitchen, dim lights, and a barking dog – and still getting the meds right
Our client, improving a medical device through human factors research, changing patients’ quality of life
Yourself, trying to do your best work when the system feels stacked against you
Healthcare human factors research is about understanding the messy reality and designing for humans as they actually are, not as we wish they were.
There’s an art to interviewing, and there’s an art to interrogating. One is great, one is only great if you’re working in the Police force or for MI5. At Acumen, we’ve been around the block enough times to know that how a question is asked often matters more than what’s on the page.
So, let’s talk about where researchers can go wrong, and how the best ones get it right.
This interviewer clings to the guide like it’s the only thing keeping them afloat. Every question is asked in order, word for word, no deviation, no follow-up, no real conversation.
The participant says something gold, and instead of diving deeper, we get:
“Okay, next question…”
It’s robotic. It’s rigid. And it kills rapport.
Fix: The topic guide is a map, not a satnav. You’re allowed to explore, detour and backtrack if it leads to something meaningful. Trust yourself. You’re a human, not a robot. We hope…
We get it, you’re on a schedule.
But cutting someone off mid-sentence because you’re chasing the next question? That’s a one-way ticket to surface-level insight.
Participants need space to think, explain, and feel heard. If they sense they’re being rushed, they’ll shut down or keep it safe.
Fix: Pause. Let silence do some work. Sometimes the most valuable insights come just after someone says, “I’m not sure if this is relevant, but…”
“Would you say that service was difficult to access and caused distress?”
Yikes. That’s not a question, it’s a verdict.
Leading questions don’t just skew data, they bulldoze nuance. They push people toward a narrative that might not reflect their true experience.
Fix: Strip your assumptions. Ask: “Can you tell me about your experience accessing that service?” and then shut up. Let them fill in the blanks.
Ah, the accidental oversharer. A participant says, “I struggled with the side effects,” and the interviewer jumps in with, “Oh my gosh, I had the exact same thing with my medication! Mine made me feel so tired…”
Suddenly, it’s less insight-gathering and more therapy group.
Fix: Empathy is brilliant, over-identification is not. Validate, reflect, but don’t steal the spotlight. It’s their story, not yours.
Focused solely on “covering the guide,” this interviewer thinks success is asking every single question. Doesn’t matter if the answers are rushed, confused, or contradictory – if all 12 questions are ticked, job done.
Spoiler: Job not done.
Fix: Quality over quantity. If one question unlocks 15 minutes of useful insight, let it breathe. The best interviews feel like a natural conversation, not an exam.
At Acumen, we train our moderators to:
And we always debrief.
Because every good interview raises more questions and helps us refine how we ask the next.
A great interview gets under the surface. It doesn’t just collect answers, it collects meaning. It gives people the space to be real, and it gives clients insights that aren’t just data points, but decisions-in-the-making.
Bad interviews can lead to flat insights, fuzzy findings, and frustrating follow-ups. But when interviewing is done right? It’s magic. It’s human. And it’s where the real value lives.
