Introduction:
Now please think about your country of origin!
In your home country there are population groups that tend to be at the top and those that tend to be at the bottom.
At the top are the people with the most money, the highest education and the best jobs. At the bottom are those with the least money, the lowest education and the worst jobs or no job.
[Denken Sie bitte nun an Ihr Herkunftsland!
In Ihrem Heimatland gibt es Bevölkerungsgruppen, die eher oben stehen und solche, die eher unten stehen. Ganz oben stehen die Menschen mit dem meisten Geld, der höchsten Bildung und den besten Jobs. Ganz unten stehen diejenigen mit dem wenigsten Geld, der niedrigsten Bildung und den schlechtesten Jobs oder ohne Job.
Question Text:
We have a scale here that runs from top to bottom. If you think of yourself before you left your country: where would you place yourself on that scale?
[Wir haben hier eine Skala, die von oben nach unten verläuft. Wenn Sie an sich selbst denken, bevor Sie Ihr Land verlassen haben: Wo würden Sie sich auf dieser Skala einordnen?]
Answer Categories:
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Recommendations:
Question: No changes recommended.
Answer options: No changes recommended.
General Probing, Specific Probing.
Findings for Question:
Serbian
Test person SER01 chooses the value "1" for her country of origin. At the end of the interview, the test person asks the interviewer why such personal information has to be given. This question seems to concern her sense of honour - possibly it is also an interviewer effect and an additional reinforcement by the fact that she is a female interviewer. The male test person is obviously uncomfortable talking about her socioeconomic status [in front of women].
SER02 chooses the value "2" for question 104 (country of origin) and justifies this with the fact that she was already badly off in her country of origin, but that she assesses her status in Germany even worse: "in Germany no rights, no work, no house" (value question 103: "1").
Arabic
Test person AR01 again points out that no middle class is mentioned in the introduction. The test person understands the question and can easily answer it. The reason given for the answer is that the test person had a very well paid job in her home country Syria and the wife also had a good job. They also had a home and a car. Here in Germany, the wife has no job, they live for rent and the current work is not the same which the test person AR01 did in Syria.
Test person AR02 chooses the value "6" and justifies this with the fact that she worked in a bank in Syria.
Farsi
Test person FAR02 chooses the value "4" for this question, while she rated her current situation in Germany with the value "3". The respondent explains the difference between questions 103 and 104 by saying that in Germany they were given everything (accommodation, basic services, etc.) to help them integrate and there were no more worries about electricity and rent, while in their country of origin they had to pay everything themselves. Due to the political situation of her husband they were in a very low class, as some of them could not even cover their basic costs.
When asked, test person FAR02 states that the question was unpleasant and difficult to answer. Diffi-cult because she was already in her home country in many classes. Initially at the top and after her husband was no longer allowed to work because he was politically active, at the bottom.
Russian
Test person RUS01 chooses the value "8" for this question and gives the following reasons: "I felt better before, I had a completely different status. Here I have a much lower status because I cannot speak the language etc.". The answer to question 104 is rather easy for her.
RUS02 - as with the previous question - has difficulties in classifying herself and is having difficulty in answering it. She chooses the same value ("8") as in the previous question and justifies this with the fact that the situation is "similar to home, but a little better here.” The father has found a job with a big company and they have moved for him because of a better education. The decision to move was not made because there was a lack of money, but because of the education.
English
Test person ENG01 has no problem with the question. She had a very good job in the government in his country of origin, a good education and could afford a lot, which is why she chose the value "10".
Question Topic:
Social demographics
Construct:
Assessment of class affiliation (country of origin)
