INSIGHT on INSIGHT: Defining the Scope of an Insight Project
How big (or little) of an insight project should you pursue?
Bigger projects are not always better. And the more money you spend on insights is not always proportionate to the value you get out of it.
Defining the scope of a project tends to reflect the objectives the project needs to accomplish. However, the same objective can be approached with a narrow or broad scope depending on several factors:
How much flexibility is desired with analysis: Will you be satisfied with the first answer that makes sense or will you want to look at the objective from multiple angles and dig deeper into the data before you come to any conclusions?
How much risk management is desired: Are you comfortable relying on a single dimension to answer a question or would you feel better having five data points to determine if they all point toward the same conclusion?
How many different audiences could exist for the results: Does the insight need to satisfy the expectations of one decision-maker or will a dozen or more people be evaluating or questioning the results?
How long of a shelf life is the research is expected to provide: Is this a one-and-done research project that just needs to address an immediate issue, with budget to field fresh research for future issues? Or will this be the only new insight your business will pay for this year?
How much additional analysis might be done after the initial delivery: Is the research needing to address a specific short-term need or might people come back to it in six months hoping to answer new questions?
How much will be shared with co-workers to address needs beyond the immediate objectives: Related questions or issues can exist across a business. Could incorporating a few additional questions suddenly make the entire data set useful for unrelated work within your company?
FIGURE OUT HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH
A single, larger project has the added benefit of producing a single set of data allowing for deeper comparison across variables. Larger projects also tend to have economies of scale that save money.
Multiple smaller projects allow for iterative learning and modifications, but they create isolated sets of data and tend to come with additional (and redundant) costs to administer.
Spend time thinking through the various ways your objectives could be accomplished. Consider how, and how broadly, the insights will be used in the short- and long-term. With that perspective, you should be able to arrive at an appropriate scope that doesn’t get too bloated or too limited.