The Middle East region is like no other — it is diverse, and research methods vary considerably. In general, the Gulf region (Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman and Kuwait) has a stricter culture than Egypt, Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East, which poses challenges for market research. Even within the Gulf there are variations, with the UAE being relatively more open and more accepting of Western culture.

A key challenge in this part of the world is having a good understanding of the social structure, norms and behaviours and how people react to new products. Market research techniques from other parts of the world have to be adapted to be successful.

Ethnic and religious groups

Mideast culture is deeply influenced by Islam, extending to legislation, education and even the way business is conducted. Also, tribes and families are very important in defining social structures. Family unity is very strong, but outside of family, men and women don’t interact freely with one another, because this type of interaction is considered inappropriate. This has to be taken into account when designing advertising and marketing campaigns and will affect the way research is conducted; for example, in the Gulf, men can interview men only and female interviewers work with women.

Saudi Arabia is far stricter than other Mideast countries. Restaurants have two sections, one for families and a separate section for men who are there alone. Also, offices cannot be mixed and women work from home or separate offices.

Don't phone home

Telephone interviewing is rare in the Middle East instead, in-home interviews are used. Naturally, there are some difficulties in recruiting and attracting respondents.  However, once they are recruited, respondents tend to be very friendly and cooperative. For this reason, referrals are used extensively to recruit respondents for in-home interviews. The good news is that market researchers don’t get a lot of refusals in the Middle East, unlike in the West. People are very happy to participate in surveys, but some kind of formal rapport has to be established first.

In the Middle East you can’t intercept people on the street or knock on doors, as this isn’t accepted. It is a somewhat closed society. People are very friendly, but you wouldn’t knock on doors for an interview unannounced. 

Central location tests

In most countries, it’s possible to hold Central Location Tests (CLTs) with male respondents in hotels, offices, and other such venues. However, because women do not travel freely in some parts of the Middle East, it is not always possible to use hotels or other public venues for CLTs. Instead, female recruiters host CLTs at their homes. These are spread out over the city, with small samples in each house.

The same general rules apply men moderate groups of men, and women moderate women’s groups. It’s actually easy to find female respondents for focus groups. Women seize such opportunities to get out of the house and gather with other women.

The key to a successful in-depth interview is to allow five to ten minutes for creating rapport with the respondent. For that reason, in-depths take longer, but once rapport is established, people are very happy to be interviewed. Again, interviewers must be of the same gender.