The Lines around User and Market Research Are Blurring, so What Happens Next?

Market research and user research are distinct disciplines, but the questions researchers are being asked to answer don’t always respect those boundaries. Researchers are moving between customer, product, market, and business questions.

In Maze’s State of Market Research Report, participants told us they had taken on an average of 4.5 additional responsibilities over the past two years, spanning market research, customer insights, strategy, analytics, competitive intelligence, and more. This role convergence gives researchers a broader view of the business. It’s also happening while demand rises faster than the resources available to meet it.

Our 2026 study with 200+ research and insights professionals surfaced three trends behind that shift: research demand is stretching resources, AI capacity is outpacing confidence, and strategic influence has a decision window. Together, they show a research function with more reach—and some important choices about how to use it.

More Reach, More Pressure

Demand can feel flattering. More people want research and more teams see its value—then you look at the queue.

Seventy percent of participants reported a rise in research requests, 78% said expected delivery speed had increased, and 64% said they now support more business functions. Meanwhile, just 30% reported increased budgets and 24% reported increased headcount.

The work itself is changing, too. A market-entry decision might require customer feedback, product data, competitor activity, and market trends. Researchers increasingly have to bring those inputs together, even when they sit across different teams or disciplines. That can bring research closer to strategic questions while expanding what researchers are expected to own. As Maze’s Senior Research Partner, Leah Samuelson, puts it, “Research started as more of a validation practice and has evolved into concept ideation.”

With more questions coming in and limited room to add people or budget, teams need to be deliberate about where they create capacity.

AI Adds Capacity Before Confidence

Eighty-four percent of participants agreed that AI increases research capacity.

Researchers are already using AIit across planning, analysis, synthesis, reporting, and knowledge management. It can help teams work across larger datasets, bring previous studies into new questions, and explore work that once depended on support from another team.

But many organizations are still working out how AI fits into research. Only 55% said their organization has clear standards for when it can and can’t be used, while just 17% said AI is integrated across the research process with clear ownership. And almost everyone agrees people still need to be in the loop: 96% said reviewing AI-generated outputs is essential.

“AI can give us a false sense of conviction. We can scour past research, behavioral data, and competitive intelligence to build a hypothesis or gut-check an idea in minutes. But speed can make new research feel like a delay.” — Angie Liang, Independent Research Leader

AI can surface an answer quickly. Researchers still have to judge whether the evidence is strong enough, what might be missing, and when a question needs fresh research. How that extra time and capacity gets spent matters.

Trust Needs the Right Timing

Research already has considerable trust inside organizations. Eighty-nine percent of participants said it’s viewed as a strategic partner, 87% said senior leaders trust research findings, and 80% said their team can demonstrate business impact.

Yet only 33% said research is usually involved when a problem or opportunity is first being defined. Another 27% said it enters while teams are still exploring their options.

Our analysis found reported strategic influence remained almost unchanged across those two stages, then declined once a preferred direction had emerged. Research doesn’t have to be in the first meeting. It does need to arrive before the answer is set. For Leah, bringing research in earlier “gives the customer voice a better chance of influencing final decisions.”

Getting there earlier doesn’t always require another study. Sometimes the evidence already exists.

Make What You Know Count

Eighty-two percent of participants agreed that research helps their team learn over time. When previous research is easy to find and use, teams can bring what they already know into an open decision and focus fresh research on what’s still uncertain.

That matters even more as researchers work across a wider mix of evidence. Customer research, market data, competitive intelligence, and previous studies may all have something to say about the same decision.

At Maze, we call this a system of learning: connecting what the organization already knows with the decisions it’s making now. AI can help teams move faster where it makes sense. Researchers can focus their judgment on what may have changed, and where new research is worth the time.

What one project teaches the organization becomes part of what it knows going into the next. The next decision gets a stronger place to start.

There’s more in the data. Explore Maze’s State of Market Research Report for the full findings on role convergence, rising demand, AI, and strategic influence.

Download the report →