Summary of the 2nd trip to Novosibirsk

A month passed since we returned to Saint-Petersburg from Novosibirsk. We got so carried away with comparing questionnaires with lists of classes to get them prepared for printing that we didn’t have time to tell you about the results of the trip. Now we’re making amends and are going to tell you how Elephant's second expedition to Novosibirsk went, as well as share plans for the next trip in October 2024.

How we ended up in Novosibirsk

Recall that in 2022 Sociology Education and Science Laboratory got a partner – the Laboratory of Socio-Psychological Research of the Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University (NSPU later). Together with colleagues we study the process of adaptation of migrant children at school. The study is longitudinal: we plan to return to schools and conduct questionnaires several times to find out how the situation in classes changes over time.

This was the second trip of the laboratory’s staff to Novosibirsk. Previously, we had already come to schools in December: we got acquainted with the schools in which we would later work and conducted interviews with students and teachers. The notes made back in December help us a lot in our work now. Because of them we better understand the context of the school and the urban area in which it is located and its students live.

Goals and results of the trip

This time we came to conduct the first wave of the survey. Each field day we went to one or two Novosibirsk schools and together with the students of NSPU moderated the survey in the classrooms. Thanks to such well-coordinated work, we interviewed 12 schools. This is more than 3,000 students, for some of whom Russian is a non-native language.

We have already finished the comparison of received questionnaires with the lists of classes. Students were filling out the questionnaires in paper form, so it is important for us to carefully type them in for further analysis. Most of the questionnaires have already been sent for typing, which means that very soon we will move on to the most interesting part – the analysis of the obtained results.

How do we plan to improve the research methodology

For the research we used a questionnaire made up of questions provided by Sociology Education and Science Laboratory and colleagues from NGPU. Some of the questions were included for the first time. And since the questionnaire is our main tool in this study we had to pay great attention to the methodology.

In two schools we conducted a series of cognitive interviews with students of different ages with and without migration experience. With the help of this research we planned to assess the ease of perception and relevance of the questions to the level of schoolchildren. Based on the results of the interviews and our observations in the classrooms, a large report was compiled with comments on each of the problematic issues.

Improving the methodology and the ease of perception of the questionnaire is a separate track within the framework of a larger study, which we plan to do in parallel with the analysis of questionnaires. 

Future plans

In October 2024 we plan on returning to Novosibirsk to conduct the second wave of the survey. Also in our plans is a large expedition to which we would like to invite students as part of the "Rediscovering Russia" project. For a future understanding of the adaptation  process of migrant children it is important to explore the district surrounding the school. Some of the schools are located in working-class areas that were formed around factories. Some areas historically attracted migrants. New districts which are being introduced into a sustainable industrial environment are also emerging in Novosibirsk.

The Laboratory already has experience in social mapping. As part of our other studies we collected interviews with local residents, stories about the history of the areas, conducted observations and composed descriptions of the territories around schools – in short, we studied in depth how life in the district works. We plan to do something similar during our next trip to Novosibirsk.

Stay tuned if you like the idea of participating in such a study! We will be happy to invite interested students to the trip and together enrich the study with interesting observations.