Why UX and Market Research should stop fighting and start working together.

It’s a debate I’ve been dragged into so many times, I’ve lost track: UX vs. Market Research? Qual vs. Quant? Who owns the insights? Who make the decisions? Who drives the strategy? Who makes the “real” impact?

I’ve been a UX Researcher for over 20 years and my thinking is deeply rooted in building meaningful products and services that solve real human problems… (As opposed to fake problems… you know, the kinds of problems that we invent in order to justify the product we’re building-alas, I digress).

Over the last 5 years, my perspective has shifted greatly.

After founding Amplinate, working across Big Tech and other industries, consulting with CEOs and Entrepreneurs, and most importantly, collaborating directly with one of the top business coaches in the world, Jay Abraham, I’ve come to a humbling conclusion about Research:

It’s not about methods. It’s not about disciplines or roles. It’s about making the Business money.

That’s the only way research becomes indispensable. And if we fail to do that? We become expendable. And that’s exactly what’s happening now.

The disciplinary distraction: UX vs. Market Research

This article builds on my response to a recent discussion in the Market Research Pros Google Group.

The original post brought up the difference between Market Research and UX Research, and did a really good job at delineating the difference between the two in terms of focus and scope and method. I agreed with the post.

But after spending more time with Market Researchers in the past 5 years, and working with Marketing Legend, Jay Abraham, I started to see more commonalities than differences in our disciplines.

We are both trying to understand customers and position products/services to meet their needs, either through positioning (Market Research) or through Designing and building the product (UX Research). The goal is the same.

And yet, the inevitable turf war started coming up… “I do this, you do that.” or, “This is my lane! You stay in your lane!”

Meanwhile, the business keeps moving ahead and amidst rounds of layoffs, there’s a truth that we’re not acknowledging:

Research is irrelevant if it doesn’t serve the Business.

The methods distraction: Quant vs Qual

As the conversation progressed, we got back to the tried and true Quant vs. Qual debate, this time, with the nuance that “Market Research works mainly in Quant” and “UX Research works mainly in Qual.” Maybe it does.

And maybe, it doesn’t actually matter at all. I’ve seen Quant-focused UX studies (like Jobs to be Done) and Qual-focused ethnographic Market Research studies (Ever notice that Marketing always have more budget than the product teams?).

Mixed methods researchers claim they can do both. And it’s true. We toggle between qual and quant to answer different questions as the need arises… But it’s still missing the point.

Why does ownership of methods matter to practitioners? It doesn’t matter to your CEO, that’s for certain. The deeper question is: What decisions are we trying to inform? And who ultimately benefits?

What actually matters? Making data-informed decisions that fuel business outcomes.

The reality is that researchers are not just out there gathering data that we present as insights and recommendations. We influence decisions about the product. And in today’s economic landscape, every decision that matters is, ultimately, a business decision.

Product decisions are business decisions

This point deserves its own section… The question came up next as to how to define “Research.” Ok, here’s my attempt:

Research (Both UX and Market Research) is the process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting Customer and Product data to make Business decisions.

This triad (Customer, Product, Business), comes together in Product Truth. It’s the intersection between what customers need your product to do, what you promise it does, and what it actually delivers.

When there is alignment between these three: Great! You’re on the path to success. But when there’s a breakdown… Watch out!

When you build products using only one or two of the lenses, you risk making flawed decisions:

• Business + Product (without Customer): Leads to commercially viable but irrelevant products.
• Business + Customer (without Product): Creates desirable but unfeasible solutions.
• Product + Customer (without Business): Results in great UX with no path to profitability.

Misalignment can lead to product failure. But Research plays a unique role: it illuminates the missing perspectives, allowing insights to become a bridge into business strategy.

Tough love

If I could go back in time, I wouldn’t tell my younger self to learn another methodology or get better at stakeholder management.

If I could go back in time, I’d give myself one piece of advice: “Care more about the business.”

I used to think my job was to advocate for the user. And while that’s still true, but it’s a smaller part of the equation than I thought. Advocating for users without understanding the business context is like drawing a map without knowing where your destination is.

Want to become essential?

I think we all want to be seen as essential to the business… to grow in our careers, to thrive, and to make more money ourselves. And the first step is really simple:

• You want job security? Help the business make money.
• You want more influence on product decisions? Help the business make money.
• You want to create more ethical, human-centered products? Help the business make money, ideally, in a way that supports human flourishing.

That’s how you become essential.

That’s how you stay in the loop.

And that’s how you go from being perceived as a cost center to being a profit center… In essence, a strategic partner.

Stop arguing and focus on the business

This is the moment for UX and Market Research to unite under a shared mission: Helping businesses make human-centered decisions that drive growth.

We are not against each other. We are collaborators in solving the same problem from different angles, sometimes using the same methods, and always bringing our unique education and background experience to the table to inform how we interpret and make sense of Customer and Product data.

It’s time to stop arguing about who owns the data or which method or discipline is superior.

Instead, let’s focus on building a future where data is at the core of every strategic business decision.

Because that’s the only way we all win: Together.

Josh LaMar is the Co-Founder and CEO of Amplinate, an international agency focusing on cross-cultural Research & Design. As the Chief Strategy Officer of JoshLaMar Consult, he helps Entrepreneurs grow their business through ethical competitive advantage.

The business is the only stakeholder that matters was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.