FReDA-W2b - Questions on the topics of women's fertility, affective touching behavior, sexual orientation, and transnational families (English Version)

In the past 12 months, have you yourself been assisted by family members abroad (i.e., partner or spouse, children, parents, or other family members) through one or more of the following?

Please select everything that applies.

No, I was not supported by family members abroad.
Yes, family members abroad have ...
... sent me things I needed.
... sent or transferred money to me.
... taken care of organizational matters for me or obtained information.
... supported me emotionally (e.g., by listening to me, comforting me or giving me advice).

If it is of analytical interest what forms of support respondents think of who select the response option "supported me in some other way ", we recommend using a semi-open response category ("...supported me in some other way, namely:").

Analogous to question 13, we further recommend changing the order of the answer options "things sent..." and "money sent..." to avoid that sending money is already (or additionally) reported under "things sent...".

Cognitive Techniques:

Specific Probing

Aim of the pretest:
Question 14 was asked only of those who had indicated in question 11 that they had family members abroad. As with question 13, the aim of the pretest was to find out whether the answer options were unambiguous and disjunctive, i.e. not overlapping. To this end, those test-persons who had selected at least one type of support were asked to elaborate on their answer(s).

Findings:
Slightly more than half of the respondents (58.7%) indicated that they had not been supported by family members abroad in the past twelve months (see Table 17). The most frequently mentioned forms of support received by the remaining respondents were "emotional support" (16 mentions), "sending or transferring money" (13 mentions), and "support in other ways" (10 mentions).
In most cases, respondents’ answers to the cognitive follow-up questions matched their selected responses:

• "They sent gifts for our children." (TP161, response: supported me in other ways).
• "Things during my pregnancy. Sent money in the form of a gift certificate to buy something for our child. Asked how I and my unborn child were doing." (TP211, responses: sent me things I needed; sent or wired me money; supported me emotionally...)
• “1. I had a baby. For that, my sister sent used things. 2. listened" (TP320; responses: sent me things I needed; supported me emotionally...)

As with question 13, it was noticeable that some respondents who had selected both the "...supported me in other ways" response option and one or more of the other options did not address in their explanations the "other ways" in which they were supported by their relatives. They referred exclusively to the more "specific" response options in their explanations, leaving it unclear what they meant by "...supported me in other ways."

• "I was built up emotionally in the same way, even though I was doing well anyway." (TP152, response: supported me emotionally...; supported me in other ways).
• "We celebrated my wedding together and were very happy; I got money for the honeymoon; they supported me financially for the wedding." (TP363, responses: sent or transferred money to me, did organizational things for me or got information, supported me emotionally...; supported me in other ways)
• "Food from Switzerland, death." (TP415; responses: sent me things I needed; supported me emotionally...; supported me in other ways)

Society & social affairs/ Relationships

Support received from family members abroad