Abstract:

The paper presents the practical difficulties that an industrial researcher faces when undertaking a survey in the Middle Bast. The techniques and the approach are overall the same as in the West, but the task is that much harder. Desk research is useful and absolutely necessary, but the sources of information are more limited and more analysis and investigation is needed to develop data. Any industrial research project has to rely mainly on fieldwork, and fieldwork in the Middle East means personal, face-to-face interviews. Telephone interviewing, as it is known in the West, is of no practical relevance. Telephone interviewing can be of assistance today particularly in identifying incidence of usage and in smoothing the way towards a person-to-person interview. Because of the lack of adequate secondary data, estimating the market size and the market trends can be done only through the creative usage and interaction of desk research, on-the-field collection of secondary data and extensive personal interviews supported by telephone interviews. The process should not be looked upon as separate activities, but rather as supporting each other and leading through creative analysis to conclusions concerning the market size, its structure, its characteristics and its future prospect.