The “No Sh*t, Sherlock” Episode

Welcome back to Intellicast! On today’s episode, Brian is joined by Matthew Alexander for a news-heavy, and slightly feisty, conversation covering mergers, data quality, respondent experience, and a brand-new recurring segment we didn’t know we needed: the “No Sh*t, Sherlock”* news section. The episode kicks off with a look at recent M&A activity, as Voxco’s owner, Terminus Capital Partners, acquires Discuss.io, merging the two brands under the Discuss name. Brian and Matthew talk about the ongoing wave of private equity–driven consolidation in the industry, and why so many deals now seem to be led by outside investors rather than research insiders. Next, they highlight Research Results’ new partnership with Verisoul, marking another big win for the fraud-detection newcomer. Henry LeGard and his team have gone from zero market research clients to over fifteen in less than a year, and both the guys agree it’s just the start of a larger industry shift toward fintech-grade data quality tools. The duo then dives into the latest releases from the Global Data Quality Initiative (GDQ), including new resources on participant incentives and procurement standards. While Brian sees these guidelines as an important step toward consistency, Matthew plays devil’s advocate: “How much impact can guidelines really have when there’s no incentive to follow them?” From there, the conversation gets spicy with the debut of the “No Sh*t, Sherlock” segment, tackling three headlines that state the obvious: Poor customer experience costs companies trillions (who knew?). Surveys are competing with social media for attention (no kidding). Researchers want more time for research (join the club). Brian and Matthew share real-life stories about bad customer experiences, shrinking attention spans, and the ongoing disconnect between respondent expectations and survey design. It’s part vent session, part industry therapy, and all in good fun. Thanks for tuning in! Want to download your copy of The Sample Landscape: 2025 Edition? Get it here:  https://content.emi-rs.com/sample-landscape-report-2025 Did you miss one of our webinars or want to get some of our whitepapers and reports? You can find it all on our website's Resources page here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices