Getting started
So I’ve been here for about three weeks now. My main accomplishment is translation of my survey. I translated it myself and then a local friend of mine reviewed it for errors. However, the main obstacle I ran into was the length of my survey. On a second visit to the mayor of my local commune, I discussed the survey. He had some good suggestions on how to make the questions more clear and less offensive. But he also mentioned (and I later verified) that the survey would take people 45 minutes to an hour to finish. It seems like every time I ask someone to do my survey they have all sorts of reasons why they can’t do it. The concept of just filling out a survey without over analyzing it doesn’t seem to register with Malagasies. With a goal for my sample size of 300, this was not going to work, so I had to cut it in half and put the easy questions first to see if they can get used circling answers without over thinking it before they get to the more pointed questions. I think now, it should work. I’ll officially launch it on Monday.
In other news, it’s been fun coming back to my mission. I’ve been able to reconnect with several old contacts (members and investigators alike). Some are less active now, others that I expected to be so are going strong. Not too much exciting has happened, but I have enjoyed wandering around the city and soaking in the nostalgia of it all. The rainy season has just finished and it’s still pretty warm so I’ve finally found summer despite Utah’s insistence on cold weather. Probably the worst part of it so far is the internet. I had assumed that I’d have reliable wifi here at the house but instead I’m using mobile broadband. Unfortunately, it’s not the best. I can email and check things on line, but skyping and chatting are hit and miss. Oh well, if that’s the worst I have to deal with I can live with it. I can’t wait to get out to the coast though.
Abraham Contos 