For reasons to leave Tunisia, I am sorry to say that education abroad was
ranked as number 3, after career, money, but it was ahead of adventure,
II. Need:
What, then, are the forces that push or pull migration for youth in the Sahel?
Why did 24,000 Tunisians risk the burning sea during the first six months of 2011?
Was it only for money?
Which forces of pushing or pulling do you think are strongest? Which are weaker?
How do those forces match with studies of push-pull factors in other times and places?
(Pause)
I assumed that the primary motivators for those who would migrate would be the pull
factor of money in Europe and the push factor of having no money and having no work.
(Graphic of those push-pull factors)
If there are thousands of unhappy people, who take such big risks, what can you learn
from them?
Why are some towns and families more entrepreneurial than others?
6.Act
============
In 2011, I was very Curious about the careers and future plans of those I met in
Sousse. I met some who were planning to leave for Europe, and others who
returned from Europe. I was curious about why exactly they wanted to leave so
soon after making a revolution.
Their stories caused Questions to come to my mind:
What is different between those who wanted to leave and those who did not?
Emotions? Logic?
My previous research in Europe gave me some assumptions, some questions, and
some answers.
To learn as much as possible from those who had done similar research in Tunisia,
I first looked in the literature.
(Slide of Ibn Khaldun postage stamp)
One of the earliest was that Ibn Khaldoun (1300sAD) and his 'ilm al-'umran,
Toufiq Bourghiba
Emmanuel Mung
Larry Michelak, Labor migration of Tunisians
Kathleen Newland, Circular Migration includes both source and destination
countries, and the migrants themselves, all of whom can gain from migration
There are many unanswered questions about how people change. I invite you also
to help ask questions and find answers.
--------------------------------Since, the Population of youth in the metropolitan area of Sousse was about
200,000, only a Sample of those could be reached.
So, the first step was to interview at least 200 people between the ages of 16 and
30.
Before doing any interviews, we needed a temporary research framework with the
essential thing to answer. Then, a list of all the possible questions that would be
interesting to answer. Then we started to look for young people who would help
me to meet and interview others. Our first set of questions was tested on 50 people.
Some questions were deleted and others were added. And then we could begin the
real project.
=============
Collecting Data
Our short surveys were easily completed in a cafe or in a classroom or by
telephone or in a Facebook chat.
Until now, 850 youth in the Sousse and Kairouan governorates completed
surveys. All questions fit onto two sides of a single sheet of paper, and we offered
questions in English, French and Arabic. Eventually, the English and French
versions were omitted to allow room for more questions.
We also tested online internet-based surveys in all three languages.
With initial random encounters and then friend-of-friend respondents,
people we met would introduce us to others to interview, or would help us
to collect surveys from friends. I was amazed to see how happy our
contacts were to give their opinions and stories and introduce us to other
friends.
IV. Visualization:
(853) surveys were collected until now, mostly in Central Tunisia and the Sahel.
There were 35 items on earlier surveys. Online and later versions of surveys had many
more, including items on media use.
To find out what mysteries were hidden in the answers, here is the path of analysis that I
used.
2. Sort the Data. Who were the respondents? Describe them. What are their
differences?
Birthplace, age, gender, education, language skills?
How significant were the push-pull factors?
Can I summarize and generalize on the basis of main characteristics?
Average (Mean)? Most Common (Median)?
Here are a few other findings from the research that you may be curious about.
Are there some questions that seem to be totally unimportant and without
research merit at this time?
Actually, yes. Birthplace of the mother did not seem to be related consistently to any
other item on the survey.
By dropping some questions, we could make more room for questions
about media use and posting habits on social media.
Now, the most-exciting part of the research--Comparing Groups with each other.
Do Males express different opinions than do Females?
Does Birthplace make a difference?
Does Education?
The answer in this case is that sometimes there is a group difference and sometimes
not. For example, Years of Education does not seem to have a large
correlation with the use of Facebook!
4. Extract. You have talked to a lot of people, you have collected a lot of surveys, you
have cleaned the data and you have looked for meaning. Now what?
You compare what you found with what you wanted to learn, and with scientific
literature.
5. Report. You share what you found to stimulate readers to learn from you and then go
on to change the world!
Contact me via Facebook if I can help you with your own research.
Facebook.com/TunisMigration