Design Research Versus Market Research

What it is

Design research asks what people need and do, through small qualitative observation; marketing research asks what people will buy, through large quantitative surveys and analytics. Big data gives correlations without reasons and can mislead, so both are needed.

In effect

A/B testing shows which variant converts across hundreds of thousands of visitors but says nothing about why. Observing a few people use a product shows why, but not how many will buy it. The Why We Project uses the distinction in its article on branding agencies in Dubai, to describe the research part of a branding engagement.

What it does not say

The distinction is a way of organising methods and not a finding that one kind of research is better than the other. It does not say how much of each a project needs, which depends on the question being asked.

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