THE SOCIO-CULTURA AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS CONTRIBUTED TO THE illegal migration

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CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY, DESIGN AND THE STUDY AREA DESCRIPTION

Introduction

This chapter consists of a methodological research design, which applies to the study. It discusses the philosophical paradigms that underlie the research methods, the sampling technique and sample size, methods of data collection and data analysis, ethical considerations, validity and reliability of the research instruments.

Philosophical foundations or paradigms of the research

Philosophical assumptions offer worldview explanations about the reasons why a researcher uses quantitative, qualitative or methods triangulation in undertaking research. The researcher’s philosophical assumptions about the nature of reality influences the selection of research methods,instruments and research practice in social sciences (Creswell 2009:6). I use the interpretivism paradigm to undertake this study. I discuss detail justifications for selecting this paradigm and its philosophical assumptions as follows. The choice of an interpretivist paradigm and its philosophical assumptions are justified as follows. Interpretivism argues that social life (reality) is relative. Social phenomena or realities have no inherent objective meanings as argued by positivists. Relativism argues that reality is subjective and differs from individual to individual (Guba & Lincoln 1994:110). Rather, people construct reality based on their experiences, feelings and the meanings they attach to the phenomena. Social reality is not static. It is dynamic, complex and ongoing. It is in a continuous state of construction, testing, reinforcing. For these reasons, one cannot apply the methods used in natural sciences directly to understanding social reality. Instead, social science researchers must employ methods that enable them to understand subjective and complex social phenomena (Neuman 2007:41). The interpretive methodology aims to understand phenomena from an individual’s perspective (Creswell 2009:2009:8). For this purpose, it uses methodologies like “case study (in-depth study of events or process over a long period of time), phenomenology (the study of direct experience without allowing the interference of existing preconceptions), hermeneutics (deriving hidden meanings from language) and ethnography (the study of cultural groups over a prolonged period of time).” Interpretive methods intended to produce insight and understandings of behaviour explain actions from the participant’s perspective and do not dominate the participant. Such research methods include “open-ended interviews focus groups, open-ended questionnaires, openended observations, think loud protocol and role playing” (Scotland 2012:12). The philosophical assumption of interpretivism is that reality is not an objective entity out there to be studied by the researcher. Rather it exists in the subjective meanings that people attach to the social world or phenomena. Researchers must, therefore, understand the subjective meanings that people attach to the social world or phenomena they have experienced (McNeill & Chapman 2005). Consequently, interpretivism favours qualitative research methods, as it believes that qualitative data are suitable to grasp the complex nature of social reality. It prefers inductive reasoning and detailed description and explanation of a specific social setting, process and social relationships. It emphasizes interpretive rather than causal forms of theory that are concerned with the replication of the same approaches at different times and settings. The issue is getting to the inner world and personal perspective of the actors (Neuman 2007:43). With this in mind, this study employs the interpretive paradigm to understand the individual subjective physical, emotional, economic and social experiences of their contexts that contributed to their illegal migration, the subsequent abuses, exploitation and their reintegration needs that resulted from these experiences. According to Bulmer (1969), symbolic interactionism is a sociological perspective, which emphasizes the subjective meaning of human behaviour, the social process and pragmatism.
Interactionists emphasize the subjective dimensions of social life or phenomena instead of the objective macro structural aspects of social systems. Shibutani (1988) argues that humans are pragmatic actors who continuously respond to the actions of other actors and adjust their behaviours based on the subjective interpretation of the meanings attached to the actions. The process of adjustment is supported by an individual’s ability to rehearse imaginatively the alternative actions before they act. Moreover, the process of adjustment is supported by an individual’s ability to think, react to his or her own actions and even themselves as symbolic objects. Hence, for the symbolic interactionists, human beings are active and creative participants who construct their social world rather than being passive conformists to objects of socialization as claimed by functionalists (Shibutani 1988:27).Society is the outcome of organized and patterned interaction among individuals. Thus, in their study of human behaviour interactionists focus on easily observable face to-face interactions, the meanings of events to the participants and the definition of the situations rather than the macro level structural relationships that involves social institutions. Blumer (1969) contended that this line of thinking shifts the focus of interactionists away from stable, commonly shared norms and values toward more changeable and continuously readjusting social process A symbolic interaction perspective was used in this exploratory study to investigate the study participants’ subjective experiences of the local contextual factors that contributed to their illegal migration; their subjective illegal migration and repatriation experiences; the subsequent reintegration needs they sought; their coping strategies; how the concerned bodies responded to their reintegration needs; and their current reintegration status. For this purpose, interpretive philosophical assumptions guided this study in order to gather the qualitative data required to address the objectives of the study. Qualitative methods allow the researcher to study selected issues in detail (Patton 1990:12). I used qualitative research methods such as in-depth interviews, key informant interviews and focus group discussions to collect the data needed to meet the research objectives. The ecosystem perspective argues that intervention undertakings intended to improve the situation of people in need have to consider the person-in-environment perspective. That means it is important to focus both on the person as well as on the socio-economic, cultural and political contexts within which the person exists in order to understand clearly illegal migration, the people involved in the phenomenon, their reintegration needs and the societal responses to the reintegration of the returnees of illegal migration more comprehensively. The ecosystem perspective takes into account the phenomena under study, the person affected by the phenomenon and the environment together to properly analyze the underlying multiple factors contributing to the problem and the solution that must be sought to address the problem.

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DECLARATION 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 
DEDICATION
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF ABBREVATIONS AND ACRONYMS
GLOSSARY OF LOCAL TERMS
ABSTRACT
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 
1.1 Background to the study 
1.1.1The smuggling-trafficking continuum
1.1.2 The need for successful reintegration
1.2 Statement of the problem
1.3 Research questions
1.4 Research objectives
1.4.1 General objectives
1.4.2 Specific objectives
1.5 Significance of the study
1.6 Scope of the study
1.7 Limitation of the study
1.8 Outline of the chapters
CHAPTER TWO  CONCEPTUALIZATION OF KEY TERMS AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS 
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Conceptualization of key terms
2.3 Global and local situation of illegal migration
2.4 Theoretical perspectives
2. 4.1 The ecological system perspectives
2.4.2 The Symbolic Interactionism perspective
2.5. The differences and similarities between migrant smuggling and human trafficking 
2.6 Factors contributing to illegal migration
2.6.1 Shortage of agricultural land
2.6.2 Poverty
2.6.3 Unemployment
2.6.4 Gender based discrimination and inequality
2.7 The impact of illegal migration
2.7.1 Impacts at micro level
2.7.2 Impacts at meso level
2.7.3 Impacts at macro level
2.8 Reintegration of the returnees of illegal migration 
2.8.1 Dimensions of reintegration
2.9 Addressing stigma and discrimination.
2.10 Returnee empowerment 
2.11 The international and national instruments on reintegration
2.11.1 The international legal instruments
2.11.2 Ethiopia’s domestic legal instruments relevant to illegal migration
2.12 Conclusion
CHAPTER THREE  RESEARCH METHODOLOGY, DESIGN AND THE STUDY AREA DESCRIPTION
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Philosophical foundations or paradigms of the research.
3.3 Research design
3.3.1 Study population, sample size and sampling technique
3.3.2 Sources of data
3.4.3 Methods of data collection
3.3.4 Instruments of data collection
3.4.5. The interview setting
3.3.6. Data transcription and translation
3.3.7. Methods of data analysis
3.3.8 Trustworthiness of the data
3.3.9. Research ethics
3.4 My reflection on the overall research process
3.5. The socio-demographic characteristics of the study participants
3.6 Study area description
3.7 Conclusion
CHAPTER FOUR THE SOCIO-CULTURA AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS CONTRIBUTED TO THE illegal migration
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Poverty 
4.3 Unemployment
4.4 Influence of brokers/ smugglers/traffickers
4.5 Family pressure
4.6 Socio-cultural and religious reasons
4.7 Political discrimination
4.8 Absence of legal means to migrate to Saudi Arabia 
4.9 Conclusion 
CHAPTER FIVE  THE RETURNEES’ EXPERIENCES OF illegal migration 
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Physical abuse
5.3 Labour exploitation
5.4 Economic exploitation 
5.5 Sexual Abuse 
5.5 Restricted communication and isolation from social interaction
5.6. Conclusion
CHAPTER SIX THE REINTEGRATION NEEDS OF THE RETURNEES AND COMMUNITY RESPONSES 
6.1 Introduction
6.2 The reintegration needs of the returnees
6.3 Returnees’ perceptions of reintegration, their experiences and coping strategies after return
6. 4 Conclusion 
CHAPTER SEVEN  ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Analytical conceptual framework for reintegration of the returnees
7.3 The socio-contextual factors contributing to illegal migration of the returnees 
7.4 Returnees experiences of illegal migration
7.5 The reintegration supports sought by the returnees and the responses of relevant bodies
7.6 Theoretical relevance of the reintegration needs of the returnees
7.7 Conclusion 
CHAPTER EIGHT  SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 
8.1 Summary of the research findings 
8.2 Conclusion 
8.3 Recommendations
REFERENCES 
APPENDICES 
APPENDIX 1: CONSENT FORM FOR IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW PARTICIPANTS (RETURNEES
APPENDIX 2: CONSENT FORM FOR FGD PARTICIPANTS
APPENDIX 3: CONSENT FORM FOR KEY INFORMANTS
APPENDIX 4: TOOLS OF DATA COLLECTION
APPENDIX 5: THE AFAAN OROMOO VERSIONS OF TOOLS OF DATA
APPENDIX 6: ALETTER FROM UNISA’S ETHICAL COMMITTEE
LISTS OF FIGURES 
LISTS OF TABLES

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