Heres how it often went: “Excuse me, we are students at NIT. Would you please help us by completing this questionnaire?" "Uh, sorry, I don't have time right now.
We were not doing a sales promotion. It was rather a survey about foreigners living and working in Yiwu. As a member of the summer internship group, Beyond the Voice in Yiwu , I experienced a similar dialogue many times on my first day.
On the sultry afternoon of July 3, 2012, we began our internship. The sun burned our skin and scorched our will. The primary goal of our survey was to learn about the life of foreigners who live in Yiwu and to gather their opinions about the city. Each group of interns was tasked with completing 25 questionnaires, and our general lack of experience in conducting surveys made it difficult for us to catch our breath.
At first, the foreigners we encountered were reluctant to take the questionnaire, which was rather upsetting. Observing the busy passers-by on the sidewalk, we had to reconsider our approach. At that moment, we spotted an African boy sitting in a chair. We walked up to him and explained to him what we were doing. He quickly agreed to answer our questions. So, by approaching foreigners who didnt look too busy, we managed to complete our quota of questionnaires with no problem.
The next task was even more arduous - we had to interview foreigners. From our previous experiences, we were worried that most foreigners would never agree to a longer interview. On the second day of our survey, I met Zhuo Han, a foreign student at Zhejiang University. As it happened, he was very kind and willing to talk with me. With his friendly cooperation, I was able to complete the interview in no time.
Our social internship in Yiwu lasted only a few days, but we learned a lot from our efforts. As the saying goes, “Genuine knowledge comes from practice.” So, when it comes to speaking with foreigners, find someone who doesnt look too busy, approach them politely, explain yourself, and then look forward to an interesting conversation!