Data Collection

4.3 Data Collection

4.3.1 Qualitative Interviews

During the field-research 36 interviews with migrants in Osh, 8 expert interviews with organizations and 8 interviews with officials were conducted. In Kochkorata, 7 interviews with migrants were conducted.

4.3.1.1 Expert Interviews

The first step which had to be done in the field research was to define the exact area of research as well as the case group of research. For that purpose, the first step was to identify experts i.e. agents of organizations which are involved in internal migration and registration system issues, and conduct interviews with these experts.

In an expert interview, not the person as a whole, but rather his knowledge about a certain field is in the focus. According to Bogner and Menz (2002 cited in Flick, 2011, p.216), an expert is a person with knowledge about the procedure and the meaning of a certain field, because he/she has working or professional experience in that certain field (Flick, 2011, p.215). The guideline for the interview was useful to lead the interview in a certain direction and to avoid the risk that the interviewee just report his whole knowledge connected to his profession. (Flick, 2011, p.217)

Interviews were conducted with following organizations:  UNHCR, Protection Officer, Osh, 2013

 Foundation for Tolerance International, Director, Osh, 2013  Advocacy Centre for Human Rights, Director, Osh, 2013  Ferghana Valley Lawyers Without Borders, Lawyer, Osh, 2013  Interbilim International Centre, Lawyer, Osh, 2013

More interviews were conducted with Officials of ministries, in order to obtain insight on the officials attitude to the registration system:

 Osh City Ministry of Internal Affairs, Chief of Department of Public Security, Osh, 2013  Osh City Department for Migration and Employment, worker, Osh, 2013  Osh City Department for Migration and Employment, former specialist, Osh, 2013  Osh City Passport, Visa and Registration of Population Department, Manager, Osh, 2013

 Osh City Passport, Visa and Registration of Population Department, leading specialist, Osh, 2013  Osh Oblast Statistical Department, Manager, Osh, 2013

As the expert interviews more have a consultative character and don’t have to be analysed in detail. Therefore most of them were tape recorded but not transcribed.

4.3.1.2 Problem-Centred Interviews

For the interviews with the migrants, the problem-centred interview method (PCI) according to Witzel (1985 cited in Witzel, 2000) was chosen. This method is used for theory building research, what makes it an appropriate method for this research. PCI follow 3 principles: First the “problem- centred orientation” which means that the research is oriented on a socially relevant problem, second the “object orientation” which refers to the flexibility of the methods according to the study object, and third the “process orientation” during the whole research. (Witzel, 2000, p.4)

Following the instruments of PCI, the interviews were led with the help of a guideline, which isn’t focussed on the whole life-history of an individual, but on his/her experiences with a specific problem. The guideline is used to lead the interview in the direction of this problem (Flick, 2011, p.210). The guideline was semi-structured and contained open as well as closed questions. Further, general data about the person (age, profession etc.) were asked in the end of the interview, and after each interview, the researcher took additional notes about the person, impressions of the atmosphere and the interview situation (Witzel, 2000, pp.5-9).

In total, 38 migrants were interviewed in Osh and 7 in Kochkorata (the interviews from Kochkorata were conducted in the frame to set the research focus and aren’t further analysed in this thesis). Everyone was interviewed just one time. All these interviews with the internal migrants were tape recorded in order to be able to completely concentrate on the interview situation, and they were transcribed as a preparation for further analysis.

The PCI consists of two types of questions: On one side there are questions which generate story- telling. Story-telling is useful both to increase the mutual trust between the interviewer and the interviewee and to generate a natural conversation situation instead of an artificial research situation. On the other side there are questions which generate understanding of the problem. The researcher develops these questions by using knowledge which he acquired previously through literature review as well as through previous interviews. (Witzel, 2000, pp.10-18)

4.3.2 Focus Group Discussions

As a complement to the problem-centred interviews, 5 focus group discussions were organised. The number of individuals in each focus group varied between and 3 and 6, while in total 24 individuals joined those 5 focus group discussions. They took place in the beginning of the fieldwork and offered an appropriate tool to get a first overview about the range of opinions und different experiences on one problem. Focus interviews have the advantage that through the interview situation in the group, the interviewees might behave differently than in single interviews As a complement to the problem-centred interviews, 5 focus group discussions were organised. The number of individuals in each focus group varied between and 3 and 6, while in total 24 individuals joined those 5 focus group discussions. They took place in the beginning of the fieldwork and offered an appropriate tool to get a first overview about the range of opinions und different experiences on one problem. Focus interviews have the advantage that through the interview situation in the group, the interviewees might behave differently than in single interviews

4.3.3 Observations

Observation as a method can be a useful complement to other methods. The method of observation is justified through the fact that some lines of action can be only perceived by observation, while other data collecting methods like interviews only provide data on the representation of reality (Flick, 2007, p.281). To get an impression of the context in which these registration procedures take place, participatory and non-participatory observations in the passport offices were conducted. There the researcher took notes of her impression how the passport office is organized, which information was provided there, how they guide someone through the office, and how the atmosphere was in this office. Additionally, the assistant acted like she had to renew her registration and went to the help desk to test which information they give. By the time of the fieldwork, the passport office in Osh city just moved from one place to another, so both of them were visited one time for observation. For comparison, the researcher also visited one registration office in Kochkorata, and one passport office in a village in Kara-Suu rayon, Osh oblast.

4.3.4 Further Data Gathering

During the whole time of the fieldwork the researcher kept a research diary where reflections and ideas about the work were recorded. This proved to be very useful during the fieldwork for planning further steps and organizing data and ideas.

With the help of the assistant, a periodical research of the news in the internet and in newspaper was conducted, to find updated information about the registration system or internal migration, and to get an impression about the media presence of this topic. For this type of research, it was also useful to visit official websites like the website of the city of Osh or of the statistical department. More secondary material was collected like forms of the passport offices, or photographs of relevant places, living situations and documents. This secondary data was very useful due to the fact that only few academic literature exists on internal migration and the registration system in Kyrgyzstan.

Next to the formal interviews and observations, there were also some chances for informal talks about the registration system and internal migration in the spare time, which was helpful to widen the general knowledge about it. These informal talks were conducted either with people working in organizations in Osh, or with familiar people which told about their own knowledge and experiences with internal migration or the registration system.