Industry joins forces for new 'Campaign for Better Data'

Leading organisations in the data and insight industry have joined forces to launch the Campaign for Better Data, to help the sector strengthen and evolve the quality of the evidence it produces and reinforce public trust in research.

With the Government setting out to establish the country as a world leader in AI, there is a significant opportunity for the £9bn UK research sector to boost its efficiency and focus efforts where human insight can generate most value. However, misinformation poses a growing risk which AI has the potential to exacerbate.

The move comes amid growing fears that poor data could scupper the effective adoption of AI systems, with most businesses struggling to manage or access quality data, despite pouring more and more resources into AI tools.

A recent study from SoftServe is just the latest to expose a growing gap between companies’ AI ambitions and their data capabilities.

Against this backdrop, the Market Research Society is providing new resources to help those in research to create even better data and is calling on the sector to continue to be vigilant and hone its skills to further fortify data accuracy and quality, ensuring it is future-proofed.

The MRS campaign brings together many of the biggest research agencies in the UK – including Ipsos and Kantar – as founding members of a collaborative group to shine a spotlight on and improve data quality through the sharing of experience and best practice.

Ipsos UK & Ireland chief executive Kelly Beaver said: “The issue of client and participant trust is central to the future of our industry and continuing to deliver data of the highest quality is of paramount importance.

“Demonstrating how to responsibly harness the game-changing potential of AI, particularly as we further embrace synthetic data is key, understanding that without quality real-world data there can be no quality synthetic data.”

Kantar profiles division chair Caroline Frankum added: “As a sector we’re responsible for ensuring we truly reflect the ever-changing world we serve to meaningfully inform decision-making.

“This means trained professionals coming together to proactively combat increasingly sophisticated survey fraud, give increasingly time-poor panellists an engaging experience, and ensuring our data quality standards are fit for purpose in an era of AI and LLMs. This is why we have been working with the MRS for some time on this campaign and believe its launch today couldn’t be timelier.”

MRS launches the campaign with fresh guidance on using AI, synthetic data and related technologies. This advice covers the breadth of AI in the research sector – from ethics and legislation to usage opportunities.

MRS is also providing new training courses to help researchers build the professional skills needed to ensure data is accurate, transparent and can stand up to scrutiny.

The campaign launches ahead of MRS’ Data Driven Insights Conference, which will be held on July 3. This builds on the Global Data Quality Initiative launched last year by MRS, in collaboration with wider insights organisations globally, to build confidence in the data the sector collects and delivers, through clear data quality guidance and standards that enhance the value of research.

MRS chief executive Jane Frost said: “Research has a unique role to play in today’s ‘post-truth’ society, and strengthening people’s trust in the data we produce is more important than ever. Achieving this will require investment in time, people and systems across the sector.

“We’ve been working with our company partners to develop the resources and guidance to help researchers build the skills needed to maintain rigorous data quality, and navigate and cut through the impacts of misinformation. After all, data is only as powerful as the people working with it.

“With the Campaign for Better Data, we are making sure the research sector is armed with the resources to meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21^st century and remain the driving force behind impactful decision-making.”

Industry joins forces for new ‘Campaign for Better Data’

Be the first to comment on "Industry joins forces for new ‘Campaign for Better Data’"

Leave a comment Cancel reply