4.2 Data and methods The objectives and research questions elaborated in the previous account wil... more 4.2 Data and methods The objectives and research questions elaborated in the previous account will be mainly addressed via the questionnaire/interview survey of rural–urban migrant workers in Cairo, which is the main research instrument of the thesis. Where necessary, comparative perspectives will be introduced by reference to two control groups: nonmigrants in Upper Egypt, and non-migrant laborers in Cairo. These comparisons will be made largely with reference to secondary data rather than additional primary surveys carried out by the researcher. However, two further forms of primary data collection were carried out: more detailed (and tape-recorded) interviews to a small sample of migrant laborers in Cairo, and qualitative fieldwork in selected villages in Upper Egypt. The remainder of this chapter describes these research instruments and field methodologies in more detail. Subsections follow on the main questionnaire, the in-depth interviews, and the village fieldwork. However, before we move to this more technical description of methodologies and research instruments, it would be useful, perhaps, at this point if I declared my own " positionality " within the research. I was born in a village in Upper Egypt (Souhag governorate) and lived there until the age of 11 years, when my father's job moved the family to Cairo. Since then, I have continued to visit the village of my childhood on average twice every year; naturally, I have many relatives still living there. I believe that my own " history " gives me a rather unique insight into both of the " poles " of the 96 migratory process I am researching, since I am very familiar with both the rural and the urban contexts and their respective traditions and ways of life. 4.2.1 The questionnaire This is my main research instrument and provides the main source of primary data. To call it simply a questionnaire is slightly a misnomer as it was administered face-to-face via a brief interview, usually lasting about 20–30 minutes. Other forms of standard questionnaire distribution (postal, drop-and-collect etc.) were completely inappropriate for my target population, a high proportion of whom are illiterate and do not have stable residence in Cairo. Also, the postal, drop-and-collect methods of questionnaire data collection are not commonly used in Egypt, even among the highly educated people. Hence it is really a " questionnaire/interview " but I will refer to it as the questionnaire survey in order to differentiate it unambiguously from other, more in-depth interviews I also carried out. My initial aim was to carry out 200–300 standardized interviews with the questionnaire, this being a sample size deemed suitable to generalize results and to study the statistical relations between variables, given the level of detail and subcategories on the questionnaire. My final total is 242. After about 150 questionnaires, I found that a consistent pattern was already firmly established, with duplication and repetition setting in, and no significant new information forthcoming. I continued for another 90–100 questionnaires, in order to ensure maximum validity and robustness of numbers for the numerical analysis. The questionnaires were taken at different sites where are to be found rural laborers in Cairo. These included squares, parks, and coffee shops where it is well-known that laborers seeking work are gathered, and where employers looking for workers will go to hire them. Most of the questionnaires were administered either early in the mornings, before the main hiring time began, or in the evenings when laborers would gather in coffee shops in the hope of being hired for the next day. Some questionnaires were administered in the course of the day with laborers who did not manage to catch a full day employment opportunity and who were waiting for short task-based assignments, 97 while some others were administered in laborers' residences in Cairo. This phase of fieldwork with the questionnaire lasted from June to October 2000. It is important to acknowledge here that the nature of the collection of the questionnaire sample rather rigidly defines the target group surveyed − more or less by definition, they are the poorest rural-urban laborers working in the most marginal and precarious employment sector in the city's labor market. As will be apparent later on, this may constrain my ability to answer a few of the research objectives set out above, since the sample design " closes off " certain possible variations and outcomes (for instance mobility to another, better segment of the labor market). Questionnaire respondents were offered tea, cigarettes or a small
4.2 Data and methods The objectives and research questions elaborated in the previous account wil... more 4.2 Data and methods The objectives and research questions elaborated in the previous account will be mainly addressed via the questionnaire/interview survey of rural–urban migrant workers in Cairo, which is the main research instrument of the thesis. Where necessary, comparative perspectives will be introduced by reference to two control groups: nonmigrants in Upper Egypt, and non-migrant laborers in Cairo. These comparisons will be made largely with reference to secondary data rather than additional primary surveys carried out by the researcher. However, two further forms of primary data collection were carried out: more detailed (and tape-recorded) interviews to a small sample of migrant laborers in Cairo, and qualitative fieldwork in selected villages in Upper Egypt. The remainder of this chapter describes these research instruments and field methodologies in more detail. Subsections follow on the main questionnaire, the in-depth interviews, and the village fieldwork. However, before we move to this more technical description of methodologies and research instruments, it would be useful, perhaps, at this point if I declared my own " positionality " within the research. I was born in a village in Upper Egypt (Souhag governorate) and lived there until the age of 11 years, when my father's job moved the family to Cairo. Since then, I have continued to visit the village of my childhood on average twice every year; naturally, I have many relatives still living there. I believe that my own " history " gives me a rather unique insight into both of the " poles " of the 96 migratory process I am researching, since I am very familiar with both the rural and the urban contexts and their respective traditions and ways of life. 4.2.1 The questionnaire This is my main research instrument and provides the main source of primary data. To call it simply a questionnaire is slightly a misnomer as it was administered face-to-face via a brief interview, usually lasting about 20–30 minutes. Other forms of standard questionnaire distribution (postal, drop-and-collect etc.) were completely inappropriate for my target population, a high proportion of whom are illiterate and do not have stable residence in Cairo. Also, the postal, drop-and-collect methods of questionnaire data collection are not commonly used in Egypt, even among the highly educated people. Hence it is really a " questionnaire/interview " but I will refer to it as the questionnaire survey in order to differentiate it unambiguously from other, more in-depth interviews I also carried out. My initial aim was to carry out 200–300 standardized interviews with the questionnaire, this being a sample size deemed suitable to generalize results and to study the statistical relations between variables, given the level of detail and subcategories on the questionnaire. My final total is 242. After about 150 questionnaires, I found that a consistent pattern was already firmly established, with duplication and repetition setting in, and no significant new information forthcoming. I continued for another 90–100 questionnaires, in order to ensure maximum validity and robustness of numbers for the numerical analysis. The questionnaires were taken at different sites where are to be found rural laborers in Cairo. These included squares, parks, and coffee shops where it is well-known that laborers seeking work are gathered, and where employers looking for workers will go to hire them. Most of the questionnaires were administered either early in the mornings, before the main hiring time began, or in the evenings when laborers would gather in coffee shops in the hope of being hired for the next day. Some questionnaires were administered in the course of the day with laborers who did not manage to catch a full day employment opportunity and who were waiting for short task-based assignments, 97 while some others were administered in laborers' residences in Cairo. This phase of fieldwork with the questionnaire lasted from June to October 2000. It is important to acknowledge here that the nature of the collection of the questionnaire sample rather rigidly defines the target group surveyed − more or less by definition, they are the poorest rural-urban laborers working in the most marginal and precarious employment sector in the city's labor market. As will be apparent later on, this may constrain my ability to answer a few of the research objectives set out above, since the sample design " closes off " certain possible variations and outcomes (for instance mobility to another, better segment of the labor market). Questionnaire respondents were offered tea, cigarettes or a small
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