PACES Residents and migrants in Ethiopia PACES Ethiopia

Dataset Description

This dataset includes interview transcripts and quantitative data of residents of Adama and Kebribeyah (Ethiopia) and migrants residing in these cities:

● Residents: This dataset captures the aspirations to stay or migrate of residents, perceptions of culture of migration, social norms and family rules around migration. This data collection on migration aspirations is embedded in questions that elicit perceptions of social transformation, social services, values and local migration history as well as aspects of the participants' personal life and traits. The questionnaire includes structured pre-defined open- and close-ended questions. This dataset contains two sets of data: quantitative data collected via the Kobo Toolkit application and exported to an xls file; and open-ended questions are provided in Word documents. The interviews were conducted in the cities of Adama and Kebribeyah and they were conducted in Amharic or Afan Oromo in Adama and in Somali and Amharic in Kebribeyah, while the data entry was done in English.

● International migrants: This dataset captures the aspirations to stay, migrate or return of international migrants residing in Adama and Kebribeyah. To qualify, international migrants had to live in these cities for at least three months and no longer than five years. However, it proved difficult to apply this time limit and the dataset include migrants who have been in Adama and Kebribeyah longer than five years. The questionnaire had structured pre-defined open- and close-ended questions. The data were collected via the Kobo Toolkit application. The close-ended answers were exported to xls files, while answers to open-ended questions in transcripts in Word files. The interviews were conducted in Arabic or English in Adama and Somali in Kebribeyah, depending on the participant's language of fluency.

Background

This dataset is one of the key components of the PACES project, which aimed to understand how people decide to migrate, stay (or return for migrants). In particular, PACES sought to understand how people perceive major changes in society, how they understand their past-present and future, and how these factors influence their aspirations to stay or migrate.

Purpose

The data capture people's perceptions of their current place of residence, what they expect in the future, both in society and in their personal lives, how they see migration and their own mobility preferences. This dataset gathers evidence on how in these two cities in Ethiopia people understand migration, what they value about it as well as what they value about staying.

Data Collection and Methods

The data in this dataset were collected through semi-structured interviews and through focus group discussions.

Research Limitations

The limited number of interviews make this dataset not representative. However, the interviews are in-depth and give participants the opportunity to highlight what is important for them in their lives and what matters in their decisions to stay or migrate.

Data Structure and Relationships Between Files

Each row in the Excel files has one corresponding transcript. To be clear, the Excel file for Residents has a corresponding Resident transcript, and the same goes for Migrant files.

Value of the data for potential reuse

This dataset has high value as it records people's perspectives on life in these cities at this point in time, a moment of turbulence and high uncertainty in Ethiopia's history. In addition to migration scholars, scholars of Ethiopia may be interested in these records.

Results

At the moment, these data have been used for three working papers, none of them published yet.

Conclusion

This dataset has important value but its in-depth nature makes it difficult to anonymise the data without losing meaning. For this reason, this dataset is closed access.

Access status:

Closed Access

Data availability:

The dataset is not accessible.
                               The repository record provides metadata only about the dataset.
Word files and Excel files PACES Closed Access — the information provided includes political opinions that could be harmful to the people who shared this information, should they be identified. The data has not been pseudonymised or anonymised, as these processes would remove information that is valuable and necessary to interpret the data. For this reason, the dataset is classified as closed access and is not publicly available. This data is a big component of the research on migration decision-making and it includes qualitative and quantitative data.