Pet care is one of the most emotionally charged consumer categories, and today’s pet parents navigate a fragmented landscape of authority that includes veterinarians, peers, influencers, and digital platforms. Drawing on extensive qualitative research experience, this article examines how shifting trust dynamics reshape pet care decision-making—and why traditional research assumptions often fall short. Readers will gain a deeper understanding of how reassurance, habit, and lived experience drive behavior, and how qualitative researchers can adapt their methods to generate more accurate, humane, and actionable insights in pet care. […]

ESOMAR President Anne-Sophie Damelincourt reveals a striking paradox at the heart of the research industry—and offers some ways that professional associations help solve it. Drawing on her experience as a marketing client, agency owner, and association leader, she challenges researchers to rethink how they approach collaboration, artificial intelligence, and industry transformation. Discover why she believes connecting isolated “bubbles” of knowledge matters more than ever, and why small steps might be more powerful than big leaps in navigating today’s rapid changes. […]

The authors examine how Agentic AI can transform qualitative research. By automating repetitive tasks such as transcription, coding, summarization, theme-generation, and evidence tracking, Agentic AI frees researchers to focus on insight, interpretation, and storytelling. It emphasizes transparency, verifiability, and human oversight, proposing a practical, researcher-centered framework where AI complements rather than replaces qualitative judgment. The authors offer a grounded, practitioner’s perspective, highlighting how Agentic AI enhances efficiency, clarity, and stakeholder trust while preserving the integrity of qualitative craft. […]