CAPI: recycling, Saudi Arabia

Our client was working with the public authorities in Saudi Arabia on a project to encourage consumers to recycle more plastic packaging. They asked us to help them undertake quantitative research on current attitudes to recycling and to gather feedback on the prototype design for an app that would reward consumers with coupons or cash for taking plastic waste to a local collection station. The client was keen to get a good balance of male and female respondents.

In order to obtain a good mix of responses from males and females of different ages from different parts of the country, we recommended conducting face-to-face interviews (CAPI) by intercepting people outside shopping malls and supermarkets (i.e. the sorts of places where the collection points were likely to be installed). Each interview took 12-15 minutes on average to complete. The research took place in November so temperatures were suitable for interviewing people outdoors. We programmed the CAPI survey in English as well as Arabic so that we could obtain the views of Western and Asian expats as well as Saudi nationals and Arab expats. Our field teams conducted interviews in Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah, Medina and Dammam over a period of one week and we were able to provide the raw data and a summary report to the client within hours of the last interview being completed. This enabled our client to present their findings to the project sponsors with a minimum delay.