Entrepreneurship in the MENA Region: The Uncharted Territory

Project Objectives:

• Examine Self-Employment: Investigate self-employment in the MENA region, focusing on characteristics and the existence of distinct groups (sustainers vs. dabblers), and compare them with paid workers.
• Understand Motives for Self-Employment: Explore the motivations behind entering self-employment, with a reference to locus of control and personality traits and contrast them within different self-employed groups and employed workers.
• Estimate Returns to Education: Calculate the returns to education for various self-employed groups.
• Assess COVID-19 Impact: Understand how different worker groups were affected by the COVID-19 crisis.
• Create a Comprehensive Database: Develop a comprehensive database for future research in the MENA region.

Therefore, we are seeking a market research company to conduct fieldwork and collect data through computer-assisted personal interviews (CAPI). The selected company should handle tasks such as outsourcing respondents, administering the questionnaire (which involves 30 to 35-minute interviews), and managing the data collection process. Regular communication with the principal investigator (PI) is essential, and all work should be subject to the PI's monitoring and approval. The sample should comprise at least 1,000 respondents per country, with some countries requiring 2,000 to 3,000 respondents based on budget considerations. In total, the study aims to gather data from a minimum of 8,000 respondents across all participating countries.

Responsibilities of the Market Research Company:

• Provide daily progress reports during the data collection process.
• Implement thorough editing of all interviews received.
• Monitor correlations between specific questions to ensure data coherence.
• Conduct call-backs to rectify missing or erroneous answers that do not align with the questionnaire's flow or previous responses.
• Make informed decisions to replace illogical answers by dropping them from the sample.
• Supervise the on-site team and offer continuous training.
• Intervene if there is evidence of data collection from specific respondents (e.g., the same industry).
• Ensure diversity among respondents.
• Arrange for professional translation services as needed for the questionnaire.
• Handle data processing and tabulation.
• Script data as required.
• Continuously monitor data quality and perform robustness checks.
• Maintain regular communication with the PI.

This comprehensive research endeavour seeks to provide valuable insights into labor market dynamics in the MENA region and generate a dataset that can support future research efforts. Additional information: This is a market research exercise, not a call for competition

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