Editor’s note: Mayra Munguia is project manager at marketing research firm FlexMR, U.K. This is an edited version of a post that originally appeared here under the title, “Doing it right: How to research Spanish speaking populations (Latino and Hispanic).
In Part 1 I discussed the impact of microeconomic influences, Internet connections, recruitment screeners, age of respondents and gaining respondent trust when researching Spanish-speaking populations. In Part 2 I’ll go over family connections, punctuality, incentives, respondent dropouts and the importance of trying to learn the language.
Family is everything
For Spanish-speaking populations, family is everything. If you talk to participants for 10 minutes, you will know all their entire family history, from members’ relationships to jobs and hobbies – they will even show you pictures. Be it online or face-to-face, embrace and encourage this. It will help you to create a bond with respondents and make them feel comfortable to provide feedback with greater honesty.
A word to the wise – if you are conducting face-to-face research with Spanish-speaking populations do explain that the research is question is only relevant to certain people. Be respectful but firm. Otherwise Spanish speakers can show up with their entire family thinking they will receive more incentives!
Consider informality and punctuality
Punctuality can be a problem in Latin American countries, particularly in Mexico. A research activity scheduled for 8:00 a.m. can easily be delayed until 8:30 a.m. due to late arrivals if it isn’t managed correctly. Time is relative to Mexicans and they do not measure it well. To keep a live schedule on track, be it online or face-to-face have a 10-minute tolerance window after the official start time after which no one is allowed to enter the activity. Express this clearly and repeat several times so that participants know you are being serious.
Regarding participation reminders, send as many as you would send to Western market research participants … and then send a couple more! The culture in Latin America is so informal, residents may well want to be involved in activities but if they are not constantly reminded the will forget about them.
Incentives are a must
It’s as simple as that. If you want Spanish-speaking participants from any country or region, you need to have incentives and good ones. They should also offer a direct benefit to the participant – charitable donations are not very well received.
The finer details of your incentive depend largely on the purchasing power of the market you are researching. As I mentioned in Part 1, Latin America is home to a huge range of people, from the very poor to the very rich, so incentives can go from a basket of essential groceries to luxury casino days. Whatever you do, don’t offer direct cash rewards as this is considered to be offensive. However poor some Latinos are they remain proud. Ask contacts familiar with the area what incentives they usually offer.
I would only recommend online voucher cards (Amazon, Starbucks, etc.) when you are conducting research in the fully developed Spanish-speaking countries – Spain and the U.S.
Plan for double the drop-outs
Culturally, Spanish speakers find it very hard to say no even when they don’t want to do something. And that is why most of them will say yes when you ask them to participate in a research activity but no one will show up – virtually or otherwise!
To avoid wasting time and resources, ensure you have double the number of participants confirmed with respect to the equivalent Western activity. If you don’t receive a response from an agreed participant in the reminder stage, don’t assume they will attend on the day. Recruit a replacement.
Do remind all agreed and confirmed participants of the incentives being offered on multiple occasions. This way you are far more likely to achieve you target attendance.
Make the effort
I am a native Mexican and I have had the same conversation with people from Venezuela, Chile, Spain, Mexico and Peru. We have all agreed one thing – people who speak another language and come to our countries very rarely make the effort to learn at least something of our culture or our language.
It means a lot to us if you learn how to say hi, thank you or if a name belongs to a woman or a man, and we respect that you are trying.
Know the difference between Hispanics, Latinos and Spaniards: Hispanic refers to a language and Latino (including Latina) refers to a location. A Hispanic is defined as one who has a Spanish speaking origin or ancestry. Latino refers to Spanish speakers as well but only those native to Latin America. A Spaniard on the other hand is a native of Spain who may or may not speak Spanish.
These are all leanings that can be gleaned within 10 minutes of Internet browsing and the reward will be tenfold. Spanish speakers in any country are far more likely to both help and respond to you if they feel you are making the effort.
Do your research
Overall the culture of all Spanish-speaking populations is a breath of fresh air. Follow my tips, do your pre-study research and you will love how welcoming the Spanish-speaking people are, the detail in their responses and how much they appreciate all the things they have.