How is conducting user research in a Muslim country with the highest percentage of foreign-born population in the world different from doing research in the UK, or in Italy? And what can that teach us about inclusion? In this Pecha Kucha I will share my learnings from setting up a recruitment and research process from scratch in Dubai, and interviewing dozens of women from 30+ countries. ::: Eleonora Zucconi ::: I’m an international User Experience Researcher based in Dubai, where I help Shedd invent and build innovative experiences for users in the United Arab Emirates, Colombia, Bulgaria, and Portugal. Prior to Shedd, I worked in the UK as Head of UX for Three UK, and associate lecturer at the Istituto Marangoni in London.

1. #wudrome17Eleonora Zucconi | @eleonorazucconi
User research in Dubai
Conducting research in a Muslim
country where 85% of the
population are expats
Eleonora Zucconi
UX Researcher
I live here :)

2. #wudrome17Eleonora Zucconi | @eleonorazucconi
Hi, I’m Eleonora.
London
• BSc Computing and Applied Psychology
• Head of UX @ Three UK
• Associate lecturer in Design and UX
Dubai
Lead UX Researcher @ Shedd
Pisa/Florence
• UX Designer / Researcher
• 2 startups founded
Lead User Experience Researcher @ Shedd

3. #wudrome17Eleonora Zucconi | @eleonorazucconi
I live here :)

4. #wudrome17Eleonora Zucconi | @eleonorazucconi
% of foreign-born population
Difference #1: foreign-born population rate
United Arab
Emirates
84%
#2
#1
Vatican City
100%
#99
UK
13%
Italy
8%
(United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2015)
#72

5. #wudrome17Eleonora Zucconi | @eleonorazucconi
Shedd
25
people
19
Countries
Research
(round #1)
41
people
24
Countries

6. #wudrome17Eleonora Zucconi | @eleonorazucconi
Chisnau (Moldova) London (UK)Cairo (Egypt)
Diversity | Mental models variety

7. #wudrome17Eleonora Zucconi | @eleonorazucconi
Diversity | Familiarity with payment gateways
Italy / UK
UAE
Bulgaria
Colombia
Kenya

8. #wudrome17Eleonora Zucconi | @eleonorazucconi
Diversity | Familiarity with payment methods

9. #wudrome17Eleonora Zucconi | @eleonorazucconi
Others
10%
Atheist
1%
Christian
13%
Muslim (official religion)
77%
Difference #2: Politics and religion
The UAE is a federal Absolute monarchy
(U.S. Department of State, 2017)

10. #wudrome17Eleonora Zucconi | @eleonorazucconi
Screener design | Civil status
Single Married Widowed Divorced Separated Other
Common law
marriage
Civil Union
UAE ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ X X X X
Europe
(Shengen) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ X X
U.S. ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
“Civil Status” options in VISA forms
(Ceac.state.gov, 2017); Esteri.it, 2017; United Arab Emirates Ministry of Interior, 2017))

11. #wudrome17Eleonora Zucconi | @eleonorazucconi
Screener design | Cohabitation
(Propertyfinder.ae, 2017)

12. #wudrome17Eleonora Zucconi | @eleonorazucconi
Screener design | Sexual orientation
Question about relationships in household from
Canada Census, 2016
(Statistics Canada, 2017)
Article 354 of the Dubai Penal Code

13. #wudrome17Eleonora Zucconi | @eleonorazucconi
Screener design | Health and fitness
(Government.ae, 2017)
Who
Free of all forms of
transmissible diseases
(e.g. HIV and TB)
No syphilis and Hepatitis B Not pregnant
Everyone ✓ X X
Workers in nurseries, restaurants,
cafes, saloons, beauty centres,
health clubs.
✓ ✓ X
Female domestic workers ✓ ✓ ✓
Health requirements to obtain a work/residence permit in the UAE:

14. #wudrome17Eleonora Zucconi | @eleonorazucconi
Screener design | Drinking
Arfken, C.L. and Ahmed, S., 2016. Ten years of substance use research in Muslim populations: Where do we go from here?. Journal of Muslim Mental Health, 10(1).

15. #wudrome17Eleonora Zucconi | @eleonorazucconi
Blocked sites:
• Pornography, nudity and vice
• Impersonation, fraud and phishing
• Insult, slander and defamation
• Offences against the UAE and public order
• Drugs
• Illegal medical and pharmaceutical practices
• Infringement of intellectual property rights
• Discrimination, racism and contempt of religion
• Gambling
• Terrorism
(Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, 2017)
Screener design | Web usage

16. #wudrome17Eleonora Zucconi | @eleonorazucconi
Recruitment | Snowball sampling
Time

17. #wudrome17Eleonora Zucconi | @eleonorazucconi
Conducting research | Ramadan
Day
00:00 04:00 08:00 12:00 16:00 20:00 23:59
Dawn Sunset
Fast
(no food, no water)

18. #wudrome17Eleonora Zucconi | @eleonorazucconi
Work
Work
Conducting research | Daily routine changes in Ramadan
Sleep Wake Sleep
00:00 04:00 08:00 12:00 16:00 20:00 23:59
Sleep Wake
Fast (no food + no water)
[Sleep]
00:00 04:00 08:00 12:00 16:00 20:00 23:59
Isha
(night)
Maghrib
(sunset)
Asr
(afternoon)
Zhur
(midday)
Fajr
(dawn)
[Nap]
Ramadan
Non-Ramadan
Please note: exact prayer times change daily depending on the sun, geography, and the school of Islamic thought.

19. #wudrome17Eleonora Zucconi | @eleonorazucconi
Conducting research | Behavioral changes in Ramadan
0.00%
1.00%
2.00%
3.00%
4.00%
5.00%
6.00%
7.00%
8.00%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Shedd users - % Activity VS Time of day
(Ramadan month VS March 1 to August 1, 2017)
not ramadam ramadan
Increase in app usage during night hours - Decrease in user testing sessions participation
- Increase in fatigue

20. #wudrome17Eleonora Zucconi | @eleonorazucconi
Summary
Italy/UK vs UAE (in particular, Dubai)
Difference #1: High expat rate
- Highest expat rate in the world
- Strong diversity in mental models, about most things
Difference #2: Absolute monarchy, Islam official religion,
Muslim majority
- Difficult to screen for characteristics such as cohabitation,
sexual orientation, transmissible diseases, drinking habits
using traditional screening methods
- Use snowball sampling instead
- Impact of Ramadan on online and offline behaviour
Follow me on Twitter or Medium
@eleonorazucconi
Thanks!

21. #wudrome17Eleonora Zucconi | @eleonorazucconi
References
Ceac.state.gov (2017). Nonimmigrant Visa - Instructions Page. [online] Available at: https://ceac.state.gov/genniv/ [Accessed 4 Nov. 2017].
United Arab Emirates Ministry of Interior (2017). Long term single entry visa - tourist. [online] Available at: https://www.moi.gov.ae/en/eservices/Long.entry.visa.tourist.71.aspx
[Accessed 4 Nov. 2017].
Esteri.it (2017). Application for Schengen Visa [PDF]. Available at: http://www.esteri.it/mae/servizi/stranieri/formulario_visto_schengen_en.pdf [Accessed 4 Nov. 2017].
Government.ae. (2017). Health conditions for UAE residence visa. [online] Available at: https://government.ae/en/information-and-services/health-and-fitness/health-
conditions-for-uae-residence-visa [Accessed 6 Nov. 2017].
Propertyfinder.ae. (2017). Cohabitation: What does the law say about that? - propertyfinder.ae blog. [online] Available at: https://www.propertyfinder.ae/blog/cohabitation-
what-does-the-law-say/ [Accessed 7 Nov. 2017].
Statistics Canada (2017). 2016 Census of Population questions, long form (National Household Survey). [online] Available at: http://www.census2006-recensement2006.gc.ca/nhs-
enm/2016/ref/questionnaires/questions-eng.cfm [Accessed 5 Nov. 2017].
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (2017). Regulatory Policy, Internet Access Management, v1.0, Annex 1. 1st ed. [PDF] pp.1-7. Available at: http://lighthouse.du.ae/
Annex-1-EN.pdf [Accessed 4 Nov. 2017].
UAE Federal Government (1987). FEDERAL LAW NO (3) OF 1987 ON ISSUANCE OF THE PENAL CODE . [online] Available at: http://www.icla.up.ac.za/images/un/use-of-force/asia-
pacific/UnitedArabEmirates/Penal%20Code%20United%20Arab%20Emirates%201987.pdf [Accessed 4 Nov. 2017]
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2015). Trends in international migration, 2015. [online] Available at: https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/
population/migration/publications/populationfacts/docs/MigrationPopFacts20154.pdf [Accessed 5 Nov. 2017].
U.S. Department of State. (2017). United Arab Emirates. [online] Available at: https://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2010/148850.htm [Accessed 7 Nov. 2017].