The future of qualitative insights in an AI driven research world with Sarah Haftings
April 7, 2026
Speed is reshaping how insights teams operate, but hearing directly from customers still matters. In this episode of The Curiosity Current, Stephanie and Molly speak with Sarah Haftings, Insights Manager at Shurtape Technologies. They talk about why qualitative research remains essential even as AI accelerates insight generation. Sarah shares how her team balances qualitative and quantitative methods, evaluates new research technologies, and uses AI powered tools to scale voice of customer insights without losing the human perspective that makes research meaningful.
Sarah Haftings has spent nearly fifteen years helping organizations understand their customers more deeply. As Insights Manager at Shurtape Technologies, she leads research initiatives across both consumer and industrial markets, translating voice of customer insights into strategic decisions that shape product innovation and long term planning.
In this episode of The Curiosity Current, Sarah joins Stephanie and Molly to explore how qualitative research continues to play a critical role in modern market research, even as AI accelerates the pace of insight generation. Drawing from her early career experiences conducting in-person surveys and analyzing open-ended responses, she explains why hearing directly from customers often reveals insights that structured data alone cannot capture.
The conversation examines how insights teams can balance qualitative depth with the speed demands of modern business. Sarah discusses how AI powered tools have transformed qualitative analysis, enabling her small team to process open ended responses faster, increase the number of projects they handle, and deliver insights to stakeholders more quickly than ever before. At the same time, she emphasizes that choosing the right methodology still depends on the problem being solved.
Stephanie and Molly also explore Sarah’s approach to evaluating research technology. Rather than chasing new tools with impressive features, she focuses on defining the problem first and carefully assessing whether a tool will save time, reduce cost, and truly fit the needs of a small insights team.
The episode also dives into how research teams can connect macro trends to product innovation. Sarah shares how long term demographic shifts such as aging in place influence both consumer and industrial product development, demonstrating how insights professionals translate broad societal trends into actionable business strategies.
The conversation closes with practical advice for early career researchers on maintaining curiosity, advocating for the customer perspective, and confidently pushing back when the data tells a different story than stakeholders expect.
What you’ll learn:
- How qualitative research continues to deliver insight that structured data alone cannot capture
- How AI powered qualitative platforms accelerate analysis and scale voice of customer programs
- Why defining the research problem is essential before choosing any new technology
- How small insights teams evaluate tools based on time savings, cost efficiency, and usability
- How macro societal trends can guide long term product innovation strategies
- Why curiosity and confidence are essential traits for successful researchers
If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Podcasts. Instructions on how to do this are here.
Episode Resources:
- Sarah Haftings on LinkedIn
- Shurtape Technologies Website
- Stephanie Vance on LinkedIn
- Molly Strawn-Carreño on LinkedIn
- The Curiosity Current: A Market Research Podcast on Apple Podcasts
- The Curiosity Current: A Market Research Podcast on Spotify
- The Curiosity Current: A Market Research Podcast on YouTube
The Curiosity Current: A Market Research Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so