User Research in Singapore

Key Points about the Singapore Market

Languages research can be conducted in:

English (for Singapore and Malaysia market) and Chinese (for Taipei and China market).

Challenges for recruitment of research participants:

Complex user profiles - e.g. specific ethnicity race (Indian parents) + specific purpose (seeking for universities comparing Singapore, United Kingdom, Australia; High disposable income for specific investment purposes (more than $10 mil and strong interest in properties or stock investment).

2 to 3 weeks lead time for recruitment is highly recommended to ensure higher quality of participants and recruitment cost is more manageable.

Cultural pitfalls and solutions, how to’s, typical response behaviour:

People who do not want to walk up the escalator stand on the left side.

Queue in an orderly manner when waiting to board on MRT metros.

Don’t sit on seats with packet tissues / umbrella / staff pass lanyard in hawker centres as it is being ‘reserved’ by patrons.

People here love to complain about trivial things - be it directly or indirectly. Ignore these complains. Locals have the habit of speaking multiple languages (e.g. English, Chinese or dialects) within a single sentence that may be difficult to understand as foreigners. Ask for explanation.

Any other information that a foreign researcher might find useful:

Spend 1-2 days in advance to climatice to Singapore’s hot and humid weather. Spend some time with local friends or researchers to understand the nuances where participants do use different languages within a single sentence.