30Under30 Nominee: Rocco Pascale

Great to hear from 30 Under 30 Nominee, Rocco Pascale, Project Director at Lieberman Research. Rocco focuses on quantitative research methods in the healthcare sector.

How did you get into the industry and reach this point?

I got into market research through a college course while I was an undergraduate student at Seton Hall University. The professor highlighted the importance of gaining real-world experience. This wasn’t an ordinary course. The class was split into groups and tasked with completing a market research study over the course of the semester. We were each given a local business, startup or non-profit and had to solve a pressing business issue. The class gave me a glimpse into the exciting, problem-solving nature of market research and led me to pursue a career in the field after earning my MBA.

I am now a Project Director at Lieberman Research and focus on the healthcare sector. I have experience in various disease areas and methodologies ranging from message tests to segmentation studies and ATUs.

Why should someone consider a career in market research, data and insights?

This field is excellent for anyone who has a keen attention to detail and a problem-solving mindset. Our work is almost like an investigation, finding various ways to analyze business issues and uncover hidden insights.

Working in market research is also incredibly exciting because we often see the results of our work manifest into client actions. The process can have its challenges, but seeing a client have an “ah-ha” moment at the end of a project makes this job worth doing.

Career paths are rarely without challenges. Can you share a moment from your career when things didn’t go to plan, but the lessons learned remain with you to this day?

I will always remember a time when I was quality controlling a report just a few hours before it was due to be sent to our client. Everything looked fine at first, but then I noticed an anomaly with one of the data points. Long story short, there was a slight calculation error, and it threw off all the indexing in the report. Those few hours of quiet quality control turned into a mad scramble to pretty much redo the whole report. We got it done on time, but that day was a stark reminder that small mistakes can add up quickly.

As researchers we need to do everything we can to ensure quality at every step of the project to guarantee client confidence in the data.

What two things should junior researchers focus on as they progress in their careers?

I’m a big television fan, so I’m going to borrow some advice from Ted Lasso here.

Firstly, “be curious, not judgmental”. Curiosity is at the heart of market research and is an especially important trait for junior researchers to hone. It can be easy to make a snap judgement after a quick look at your data, but it’s curiosity that helps you uncover deep insights.

Secondly, it is important to “be a goldfish” and have a short memory when the inevitable mistake happens. Being a junior researcher means immersing yourself in all aspects of research, sometimes for the first time. This comes with obvious challenges and it is important to learn quickly from your mistakes without dwelling on them.

Do you have any advice for our sector?

The rise of AI threatens seemingly every industry and ours is no exception. It is going to be important going forward to lean into the human aspect of market research – proving our worth to clients, putting respondents first with engaging survey design and using psychology to uncover hidden emotions and attitudes. AI can be a helpful tool, but it is a slippery slope when we start relying on it for actual analysis without injecting our human instincts into the research.

Is there anyone who has helped or supported you in your career who you’d like to acknowledge or thank?

I’d like to thank Adam Warner, the Director of Seton Hall’s Market Research Center. Adam is the person who introduced me to market research and helped me to become a better presenter and communicator. His dedication to getting college students involved in market research is admirable.

I’d also like to thank all my colleagues at Lieberman who push me to stay curious and improve my skills every day.