Muslims from all over the world keep fasting approx. 1 hour before sunrise to sunset during the most blessed month in the Islamic calendar, known as “Ramadan”. Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar. During this month, Muslims abstain themselves from eating, drinking, smoking, as well as participating in ill-natured or excessive type of activities. Fasting is intended to educate the Muslim in spirituality, humility and patience. In Ramadan, it is a time for Muslims to cleanse the soul, focus attention on God, and put selflessness into practice. Fasting is made for the sake of God. More than a Billion people around the world are Muslims. Majority of Muslims keep fasts during Ramadan as it is a religious obligation.

After the sun sets, Muslims break their fast first with a small meal and then, often, a larger meal later on in the evening. It is also common for Muslims to take a meal early in the morning before dawn, a meal known as “suhur”. There are musicians and others who volunteer to walk through town to wake people for this early meal.

Change in normal routine of Respondents in Ramadan and its effects on Fieldwork:

Major changes happen in the habits and way of living of Pakistani respondents like  eating, sleeping, shopping, and habits pertaining to religious activities, charity and media.

During the holy month respondents sleep and wake up early. Schools/offices and household working hours are also changed in Ramadan. Schools and offices usually start early approximately One/two hours to usual schedule, and also close before time. People on jobs used to start jobs/ business early. For example if business day timings are 9 to 5 in normal days, it shifts from 7 am to 2:30 pm. People used to take rest during Ramadan after coming back from work.

From Fieldwork/data collection perspective, “B2B ” interviews are conducted in the morning during Ramadan, 9:00am to 12:30 pm. For Household interviews, appropriate time to contact female respondents is 9:00 am to 1:00pm in “weekdays” only. Male respondents are more willing to be interviewed at their households from 5:00pm to 6:00pm only in weekdays. It is better to meet male respondents on “holidays /Sundays” at their home from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm and then 3:30 pm to 6:00 pm during Ramadan.

Media viewing habits and its effects on survey timings:

During Ramadan TV / media viewing habits also changes. It is the observation of researcher that people usually watch more religious channels. So any media research or containing questions relating to media habit may only give information for a specific period which might not reflect respondent’s routine in a year.

Change in eating habits and its effects on survey timings

During Ramadan eating habits also change due to fasting. This may effect on the fieldwork also. This is not appropriate to ask questions on consumption of eatables from a person maintaining fast. Similarly any projection on the basis of consumption pattern in Ramadan is also not advisable due to change eating habits, eating schedule and diet etc.

However, fieldwork for other products/ services except for eatables can be carried out during Ramadan.

Based upon our experience of doing surveys in Ramadan in Pakistan and other Muslim countries, pace of work is sometimes slow in Ramadan which can be accelerated after Ramadan or it can be made up by adding more resources in data collection team. This is important to note that during last 10 days of Ramadan, field work is extremely difficult or near to zero progress level as respondents are over engaged in religious activities, shopping for EID.

EID is a another religious festival for the Muslim celebration which continues from One to Three days. On Eid days respondent usually go for outing, meet and greet friends and relatives. During EID holiday, fieldwork is not possible at all.

We at IFT have a team of experts with more than 20 years experience of managing large scale projects in Pakistan and abroad. Our experts will be happy to share views on your specs and fieldwork plan during Ramadan.

In 2011, Ramdan in Pakistan is expected in August subject to lunar calendar. Because the Muslim calendar is lunar rather than solar, the month of Ramadan moves through the year. Thus, sometimes if falls during the winter when the days are shorter and fasting is easier but other times it falls during the summer when the days are longer and fasting is more difficult.

For any query, may write to info@field-tab.com.pk

Greetings During Ramadan

Ramadan Kareem = Noble or Generous Ramadan
Ramadan Mubarak = Blessed or Happy Ramadan
Kul ‘am wa enta bi-khair = May every year find you in good health

* Economic Survey of Pakistan 2009-10

Disclaimer:

International Field & Tab is a premier “field and tab” agency based in Lahore. We are sharing publicly available data for the interest of our audience. We do not hold any responsibility for the data, the views of the participants and the publisher. We suggest you refer to the original source for further inquiries.

Source: Internet World Stats (IWS)

With each passing day, people age, babies are born, and people die. Yet, as each day passes on, what happens to the population? Does a majority of the population fall within a certain age bracket, and if so, what is that age bracket? According to figures reported as per 2008, Pakistan’s population is 160 Million. A figure anticipated to reach 194 million by year 2020. A deeper look into the composition of population reveals that adolescent population falling in the age group of 15 yrs- 24 yrs embodies high potential population growth rate for several decades.

Get more information on the Pakistani Population, by writing to us at: info@field-tab.com.pk

Employment:

Drilling a hole 100 years ago involved a lot of man power and a lot of time using a hand drill. Today we pick a very light weight and powerful rechargeable drill, line up the hole and it takes us a few seconds. Same goes for saws. 100 years ago you would need to use a hand saw and now we just need a cutting machine which requires only one hand to press its buttons. Considering the employment level, Economic Survey of Pakistan 2009-2010 discloses the fact that 46% of the labor force has one year of education or less. Without a workforce that is continuously acquiring new and improved skills, it will be difficult for Pakistan to be competitive in the globalizing world.

Get more information on the Employment, by writing to us at: info@field-tab.com.pk

Literacy:

Talking of literacy rates, only 43.6% of the female population is educated whereas the literacy rate among the male population is 68.2%. Global index (2007-2008) which enlist the profiles of South East Asian countries indicates that India leads in competitiveness. It comes 55^th in terms of Higher education and training and 96^th in labor market efficiency while Pakistan is 116^th and 113^th respectively.

Get more information on the Literacy, by writing to us at: info@field-tab.com.pk

Have a desire to outlook others and follow the latest trends? Naturally every human being shares the same concern, qualifying it to be the major reason for the varying consumer trends at a faster pace. Aware of this fact many leading organizations have conducted researches targeting the personal care industry revealing interesting results. A couple of them worth mentioning are

· The observation over a period of time of toothpaste replacing Miswak & Manjan among majority of Pakistani people.

· People living in rural areas may also be a potential of personal care products like shampoo and soaps.

To find out the related facts, these researches have the potential to be probed deeper to know the exact characteristics of consumption pattern. This industry itself is like a sea with presence of various fishes, the competition is fierce with the existence of different contenders attempting to survive through. The scope of this industry being wide enough faces the challenge of changing consumer preferences on a regular basis with respect to its domains including cosmetics, apparel, accessories & products of daily use etc. IFT takes the opportunity in this regard to introduce the Personal Care Panel and welcomes the clients to ride in OMNiFT Express with their share of questions for cost effective and reliable solutions.

With OMNiFT Express the research is just a few questions away, so be the first one to get updated with the changing trends cost effectively!!!