Dos and Don’ts of Research in Indonesia

Nationally representative sample in Indonesia means a very large sample size across
the archipelago; it would be very costly and timely. 70% to 80% of the economically
active target consumers live in the 4 major cities.

Interviewing Methodologies

Telephone

Telephone penetration is relatively low compared to other Asian countries because of the
high investment required to set up the infra structure. The land line penetration in Jakarta
is only about 60%, in other capital cities, it’s between 20% to 50%. Obviously, surveys
using telephone would not yield representative sample. At best we can only reach the A
and B socio-economic-class. Mobile phone penetration is increasing; surpassing that of
land line. However, the cost of calling a GSM cellular phone is about 20 times more
expensive.

We do conduct telephone surveys. In Jakarta we have 18 CATI stations. In other cities,

we use pen and paper. The most suitable types of studies are Business to Business among
office employees (not among high ranking executives), Business to Consumer where the
client has valid consumer database (bank customers, car buyers), and Upper class
consumers. These respondents can be interviewed by phone up to 30 minutes.

Door to door

The most commonly used method. Culturally, respondents are too polite to decline a
personal visit by a decently dressed interviewer. In smaller cities, they even serve tea or
water to the visitor. We only find rejection by the super rich and by ethic minorities. The
concern is security. For this reason, the incidence of these groups is understated.

It is common that at the end of the interview, the respondent receives a small gift as a
token of appreciation. The value could be somewhere between US$ 1 to US$ 5 depending
on the interview length and the stature of the respondent.

When conducting interview in a lower stratum area, it is common that family members
and neighbors also join the session. Sometimes, the respondent ‘consults’ other family
members before giving an answer. Tight fieldwork supervision is needed. We accompany
/ witness more interviews than in other countries and this adds to the fieldwork cost.

Central Location

In major cities like Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, and Medan, there are a number of
shopping malls that allow a space being rented for research. They are not the most elite
ones but usually the right places where we have a good cross section of the population
frequenting the location. They are usually situated near a bus terminal or train station.
Rental cost is quite high. There is normally unofficial rental fee to be added for the
security guard if we want the recruiters work uninterrupted. The usual achievement is 30
respondent a day during weekday and 50 during the weekend. CLT is cost efficient if we
can recruit on the spot. However, if the respondent criteria are very rigid and we have to
pre-recruit respondents, transport them back and forth, CLT becomes cost prohibitive.

We always recommend CAPI – using ION software – when we do CLT. Our parallel run
test suggested that the accuracy as well as the speed is higher than using pen and paper.

Focus group

Indonesians in general do not express themselves articulately. We must add a criterion in

the screener that the respondents we invite are expressive, otherwise we end up with a
group dominated by a few talker among good listeners no matter how well trained the
moderator is.

We also QC respondents to be 100%. An independent QC staff visits the nominated

person to personally delivers the invitation to the group and at the same time checks that
s/he is really eligible and fits all the criteria.

Respondents are picked up and dropped back home by taxi. They are served refreshment
and/or even a full meal if the group starts at meal time. At the end of the group, we
provide incentive as a token of appreciation. Cash is preferred among the lower SEC.
When recruiting working people, we can only start at 6:30, after the dawn praying if
respondents are Moslem. With housewives and on weekends, it is possible to run two
groups a day.

Gender mixing is possible if the subject of the discussion is neutral. Children cannot
attend a full group; they must be interviewed in a duo or a mini group. Elite respondents
would be easier to recruit if we invite them to a 5 star hotel and the group starts with
meal.

In-depth Interviews

Works particularly well when the respondent has a ‘trade secret’ that they would not share
with other people whom they meet for the first time in a focus group. This includes
doctors and other professionals, high net-worth individuals, businessmen. Besides the
secrecy aspect, these people are also very difficult to gather at one place at the same day
same hour. IDI is convenient to both.

We also resort to IDI when the subject matter is too sensitive or personal to discuss in a
group. We’ve done IDI with sex workers and their brokers (aka pimp) for the HIV/AIDS
mission.
Ethnographic Studies

The method is gaining popularity in Indonesia. Care must be taken that the respondent
shows his/her true color during the session. We had a case where a respondent who
usually uses recycled cooking oil suddenly uses a fresh one to maintain good image in the
eyes of the researcher.

Video taping is possible with permission and after some warming up to the point that the
respondent is unconscious of its presence.

Online

The Internet penetration in the big cities is only 7%. The cost of accessing the web is very
high; 20 times what a consumer pays in Hong Kong. It would be a while before Indonesia
has the critical mass of wired consumers. However, we do conduct on-line survey among
corporate employees hosted elsewhere.

Ethnic & Religious

Although Indonesia consists of many ethnicity and religions, there has not been a serious
barrier to conducting surveys cross cultural. Of course, we do not run product testing
during the Ramadan (fasting month) or ask Moslem to sample pork. We do not impose
quotas based on ethnicity or religion. If we did, we would offend many. People would
prefer to be treated as Indonesian, no matter what their background is.

Although Chinese Indonesian represents only 5% of the total population, their presence is
eminence in big cities. They dominate the retail trade. Most of them do not speak Chinese
language or dialect (except for incomplete words or phases commonly used in their
society) nor practice their ancestral culture. It would be insulting to treat this group as a
different species.

Questionnaires

Three things to consider when designing questionnaires

- Length by method; max 120 minutes in D2D, 60 minutes in CLT, 30 minutes in
telephone, street intercept 15 minutes.
- Target respondent. Although a high percentage is literate, the ability to digest
rather complex issues is limited.
- Subject matter. We have to be extra cautious when researching Sex, Religion,
Races, Ethnicity and Politics.

Language
Fortunately, even though there are more than 300 ethnic groups and languages that co
exist here, the local language, Indonesian (called Bahasa Indonesia), is spoken and
understood throughout Indonesia. The interviewer may need to help translate some terms
to and from the rural population.

Interviewing in English, even if the respondent speaks English well, could be interpreted
as a competency test and is therefore to be avoided.

Schedule

Indonesia Public holiday in 2007

• 1st January – New Year
• 20th January – Islamic New Year
• 18th February – Chinese New Year
• 19th March – Hari Raya Nyepi (Hindu day of Silence)
• 31st March – The Birthday of Prophet Muhammad
• 6th April – Good Friday
• 17th May – Ascension of Jesus Chris.
• 1st June – Hari Raya Waisak (Hindu celebration)
• 11th August – Isra Mi’raj of Prophet Muhammad
• 17th August – Independence Day
• 13th – 14th – Idul Fitri (1 Syawal)
• 20th December – Idul Adha (Day of Sacrifice)
• 25th December – Christmas