Field Scope International was tasked to recruit respondents of Chinese nationality who recently came to London in order to get their feedback about different designs of yoghurt packaging.

The aim of this research was to find out what kind of yoghurt packaging design our respondents prefer in order for our client to provide a better consumer experience.

The study was initially supposed to be conducted in China, however, the COVID-19 started. For this reason, the client had to shift the research to London and hence requested only people of Chinese nationality who have recently moved to the UK in order to still obtain relevant data, as they haven’t yet acclimated to the European culture.

Yet another problem occurred, as the COVID-19 Outbreak had reached London by the time the study was due to take place which raised red flags when it came to the project delivery. Brainstorming with a lot ‘what ifs’, we agreed with our client that precautions would be implemented at the facility to ensure respondent safety.

We, as a team, knew one thing – we had a project and we needed to see it through. Constant updates were shared with the respondents and the client while paying attention to what was going in the world so that we would be able to adjust at any given point.

As if conducting a study during one of the biggest pandemics the world has faced wasn’t challenging enough, we realized that our target audience is trickier to reach than we anticipated.

Extensive desk research had to be done in order to understand the socio-demographic aspect of this type of respondents, after which we had identified a social media platform (WeChat), unique to the Chinese community, and used this route to share awareness and generate interest about the study. We realised that mainstream social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram would be a total misplace of our efforts, hence why we focused our recruitment by approaching these respondents using visually appealing dynamic media which was published across multiple WeChat groups.

Due to the pandemic, we had a lot of drop-outs, but we managed to deliver the project and our client was able to analyse the data as planned.

In the end, we had a happy client and happy respondents since the study successfully took place as a Face to Face group interviews and the client was able to collect valuable feedback.

This goes to show how every individual is affected by the pandemic, but if we all work together towards the same goal and adjust to the situation at hand, in the best way we can, the solution is never far away.

Staying safe must always be everyone’s top priority, which is why we have since completely switched to remote methodologies (amidst further virus progression and according to the government recommendations) so that the respondents can safely enjoy all the perks of participating in the comfort of their home.

• Country – UK
• Deadline – 3 weeks
• Sample Size – 32
• Methodology – Central Location Focus group (sample testing)
• Respondent Type – British and recently moved to UK Chinese consumers
• Study Field – Chinese Yoghurt Brands