This week, researchers from far and wide descended on Chicago for the Insight Association’s Corporate Researchers Conference. On Tuesday, dscout hosted a Game Night for an evening of bocce and shuffleboard, 2-minute live portraits, mixing and mingling. And with so many researchers in one spot, we couldn’t resist asking a few of them: Why are you a People Nerd?

People are full of surprises, and I love how they deviate from what’s expected. It seems so simple, but even when you’re looking at a big data set, there’s always a story to be unearthed, something that you weren’t expecting, some way people will surprise you.

Eldaa Daily, Research Director at Ameritrust

I’ve been thinking a lot about curiosity lately, and I think curiosity is a big part of being a People Nerd. It’s the ultimate complement to critique. In the design world you need conviction, but research needs to push back on that and bring curiosity and a little bit of skepticism to a hypothesis. Ultimately I have to meet the user where they are, and that requires curiosity. You need curiosity to be truly collaborative.

John Dominski, Design Lead, Research, Northern Trust

Because you never know when you’re going to need each other one day. We all have the chance to learn from each other, ultimately we all have the same fears and wants and needs, so why not get together with others to talk about it? I ‘people nerded’ my way into a new group here in Chicago already.

Lisa Hazen, President, Nuance

I’m so intrigued by why people behave the way they do. Ultimately no one understands every little decision they make. We each make a million decisions every day, and we don’t understand the why behind them. That’s what I love about research, is how it can help close the gap and solve that mystery.

Jonathan Dore, VP, Consumer Insights, Maru/Matchbox

I’m fascinated by why anyone does anything. It’s the kind of thing you won’t know unless you really dig in. I want to know everyone’s struggle and everyone’s story. Why is someone sad? Happy? I’m hugely curious about how someone is different from me, why they do the things they do. That’s how you grow and learn and gain perspective. But you have to give people that space to talk about themselves to get that.

Kimberly Campbell, Red Suede Shoes

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As always, we want to hear from you… why do you #peoplenerd?

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Carrie Neill is a New York based writer, editor, design advocate, bookworm, travel fiend, dessert enthusiast, and a fan of People Nerds everywhere.