Masterclass with Ms. Shreyanka Basu

A Masterclass with Ms. Shreyanka Basu was recently held at the IIAD Campus on “Leveraging Consumer Insights to better inform Design outcomes".  An award winning qualitative researcher, Ms. Basu teaches at IIMs and other leading B-Schools on subjects related to consumer insights, marketing, branding and qualitative research.

In the Masterclass, Ms. Basu focused on the importance of research in understanding consumer psychology and the issues that surround it. She highlighted the need to distinguish between research and personal opinions in order to ensure that the data being collected is objective and unbiased. The students were acquainted with the process of deriving meaning from quantitative and qualitative data and the importance of separating the two in order to make data inference as accurate as possible.

Her lucid presentation not only highlighted the significance and value of research but also its various facets which can broadly be divided into qualitative and quantitative research. In quantitative research, tools, questionnaires and equipment are utilized to collect data. In Qualitative research, on the other hand, the researcher himself is the data gathering instrument. The role of the researcher therefore becomes imperative here since he is the central source of data and information. Ms. Basu, sought to depict the need of placing qualitative research at the center of consumer and market psychology.

She shed light upon the importance of understanding the language of the consumer and being able to look at the world from different perspectives. She also stressed the vital role that emotions play in the buying decisions of consumers - how they perceive the brand value and usability of the product.

A major outcome of the Masterclass was that it helped students gauge the means through which research should be carried out in order to understand  how products are developed and designed keeping in mind the consumer and current market trends.

About Shreyanka Basu:

Shreyanka Basu’s professional career of 17+ years has focused on her trying to ‘find connections where seemingly none exist on face value’. All three of her parallel careers namely market research, teaching and marketing are anchored by her ability to ask the ‘right questions at the right time’.

Following her post-graduation in Communication Management from Symbiosis where she was a rank holder, Ms. Basu started working with Everest Brand Solutions and then moved into a consumer/visitor insights function involving qualitative research with the premier market research firm Kantar IMRB. Her work involved cultural deep dives across different target groups, communication development and testing, media ethnography, audience diagnostics, TV viewer exploration, content development studies etc. alongside administrative and leadership duties. Post her stint at Kantar IMRB she headed Connecting Dots, a strategic consultancy in the area of consumer insights.

Ms. Basu has been actively teaching since 2009 to bridge the gap between academia and industry. Being an award winning qualitative researcher, she has made it her mission to put qualitative research at the center of management education and marketing decision making. She is a visiting faculty and regularly teaches at IIM Lucknow, Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Symbiosis, National Museum Institute, India Today Media Institute, IIM Indore, IIM Kashipur, MDI, IIFT, on subjects related to consumer insights, marketing, branding and qualitative research.