Let the Thai society know about your retirement life in Thai

Post by **PhDstudent** » November 4, 2015, 11:59 pm

Hi all members of UdonThainiForum,

My name is Kanokwan Tangchitnusorn, I'm a Ph.D student of the College of Population Studies (CPS), Chulalongkorn University, and currently I am doing a Ph.D. dissertation about the international retirement migration (IRM) of Westerners in Thailand.

As part of my research, I have to distribute around 400 questionnaires to Western retirees in Thailand who came from developed countries in the Western world. Though, I've already distribute the hard-copied questionnaires to the Immigration Offices in Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Pattaya, Hua Hin, Udon Thani, Samui, and Phuket, I think the on-line distribution of the questionnaire is also a practical and savvy approach.

Hopefully, the research results will become part of policy recommendations, which aim to constitute mutual benefits for both retired expats and Thai society as a whole.

So, if you want to be part of the study, please go to http://goo.gl/forms/nPGqLj9Xz1 and then submit your information.

In addition, please be informed that Information related directly to you will be kept confidential. Results of the study will be reported as total picture. Any information which could be able to identify you will not appear in the report.

Thanks a lot for reading this post.

KANOKWAN TANGCHITNUSORN, Ms.
Ph.D candidate at College of Population Studies (CPS), Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
emails: [email protected], [email protected]

Post by **waanjai** » November 5, 2015, 10:05 pm

Hi,
a couple of years ago we had such an investigation already though less in scope. But it had the advantage of combining survey reseach with qualitative interviewing.

http://www.uta.fi/yky/lifestylemigratio ... thesis.PDF

Wishing You an successful investigation. Please report back Your major findings or a link to it. We had a lot of interviewing in recent years. But what was mainly missing: some kind of orderly feedback.

Post by **12345** » November 5, 2015, 10:48 pm

Remember John.........nice guy, but did his research from bar stool crowd. He himself didn't indulge, but I'd say his 'research' was 'incomplete'...........

Unless a case study of miserable drunken expats can be found to have relevance to anything. Maybe "What not to be and How to Avoid"....

I filled out the survey, online. Though I think that was a mistake, that avenue for the survey. Simply putting at immigration office, and handed out by immigration officer to only retired visa holders would give you a better idea. I suspect there will be a huge margin of error in your results. Much more than say an acceptable 5 to10 +/- %.

Good luck with the Ph'd.

Khon Kaen Uni comes out with a study every so often............my opinion of it is........laughable.

Post by **PhDstudent** » November 5, 2015, 11:50 pm

@Wannjai Thank you a lot, I will check it out (for John's paper).

@12345 Thanks for your very straightforward comment

by the way you know from my direct and very recent experience, I think the online form is way much better and even more accountable because the hard-copied forms can't guarantee that all questions in the questionnaire are filled or completed. I had experienced such pains when I did a pre-test in July

Post by **bigsnake** » November 7, 2015, 12:10 pm

For the most part life as a Retiree in Thailand is great, I wish the Thai Government could stop the 90 day check in with Thai Immigration for long time residents(ten years or more) retirees. For sure the one that Own their Home with their Spouse<>highly unlikely a retiree such as this will change residence within one year i.e., take time to sell a home a relocate. For such long term Retirees (10 0r 15years) why consider these retirees for a four year retirees visa, say for a fees of Bt7500, this would for sure cut down a lot of paperwork for the individuals Retirees and the Government Official, who has to process it. For sure it would be a MANDATORY requirement for such retirees to report to Thai Immigration Authority if they change residents.

To end on Positive note, my favorite color is GREEN, which in my mind's Eye mean Go(GROW<>GROWING Up, green grass growing, Papaya trees growing) and for me most of all seen Thailand and the People grow and develop on the Past 30 years that I have Physical been on the ground here. If hadn't live or visit here and return I would swear I was in another Country.

Post by **rick** » November 8, 2015, 7:57 pm

I did answer the questionnaire but did find most of the questions rather abstract from the reality of the problems of living in Thailand. Why am i here? Because i got married to a Thai in Thailand. And because the reality of life is that countries i might prefer to live in with my family are now financially out of reach (Immigration requirements mainly, either for me or my wife). Migration was a lot easier 20 years ago.

Post by **PhDstudent** » December 4, 2015, 1:11 pm

@Bigsnake your suggestion on Thai visa regulation is very interesting and I agree that the 90-day notification is a boring routine task for those who stay here for long time. However, changes are hard to be made according to my previous interviews with Thai Immigration officers, in which, they also have good reasons for that especially in terms of security purposes

@Rick Yes, I do think so, but my questionnaire is developed from the previous works regarding the international retirement migration (IRM), in which, they provided broad-spectrum measures of the IRM issues, ranging from objective factors like income or cost of living, to more emotional factors and feeling.

And, to all of you, I must say that I am very grateful for your kind helps, as now I received around 20 on-line responses from Udon residents. However, due to office workload, it appears that the immigration police at udon immigration office cannot distribute many of my questionnaires to the retirees. I don't know how to do about this so I can only rely on the on-line approach. So, if there's some other retired residents you know, please pass them the survey http://goo.gl/forms/5vpOJfZxHH

Thanks a billion ka

Post by **wazza** » December 5, 2015, 1:25 am

K Kanokwan

completed and submitted.

I wouldnt reply on the Immigration officers to assist, unless you offered an incentive, LOL

Running a vehicle. costs, insurance, payments if under finance etc could also be a finacial cost worth noting for future followup.

I also would appreciate to see your summary.

What sort of numbers are you needing to make the thesis applicable ??

Post by **PhDstudent** » December 6, 2015, 12:37 pm

@Wazza Thank you very much for your participation and your suggestion

For the summary of the results, it will be available on-line ka

I would need 397 questionnaire respondents, which includes the respondents from the UK (78), the US (61), Germany (51), Switzerland (31), France (27), Australia (26), Norway (25), the Netherlands (20), Sweden (19), and the other 15 Western countries (58). Does it sound far-fetched to really achieve those numbers? anyway they're calculated based on the Immigration statistics of foreign residents by nationalities. But in reality, most of the respondents are British and American people.

Post by **747man** » December 6, 2015, 3:31 pm

Dear Khun Kanokwan......I Have filled in the survey form.....

Post by **waanjai** » December 6, 2015, 4:05 pm

You should send a letter to the following expats clubs in Thailand: Pattaya (has two of them), Chiang Mai and Udon Thani and ask for their support in further distributig the link to your study and to recommend the participation. All these clubs have websites & e-mail.

There was an initiative in Khon Kaen but lost contact. The existing clubs very often have board members coming from other countries than UK/USA.

In approaching these clubs it is advisable to again stress the importance of the measures taken to quarantee the anonymity of the responses - stripping off of identifiers etc. - and the integrity of the database against intrusions by others. As Your research is being done in a time in which Thailand is ruled by a military junta and certain rights are suspended.

Wish your diss. a good progress.

Post by **PhDstudent** » December 6, 2015, 8:33 pm

@747man Thank you so much for your participation ka

@waanjai Thanks a billion for your suggestion ka. In November, I already attended the two meetings organized by Chiang Mai Expats Club, I went to interview people there and currently they're helping me distributing the surveys online. For Udon Expats Club, I just sent them a request and they're now deciding how they gonna help me. For Pattaya expat clubs, I still haven't contacted them yet, so thank you so much for reminding me this ka

Post by **PhDstudent** » January 9, 2016, 2:38 pm

Currently, I've been receiving about 40 online responses from Udon and other Isan provinces, in which, I am very thankful for your helps. However, since I think I may not be able to get any responses back from Udon Immigration office, so it means that I can only depend on the responses from the Internet to represent the western retirees in the region. So, more responses are greatly welcomed ka

For those who haven't done the survey, please go to http://goo.gl/forms/nPGqLj9Xz1
Thank you very much ka

Post by **PhDstudent** » February 8, 2016, 1:10 pm

Are there any more responses from Udon expat ladies and gentlemen? Come on, your responses are valuable to make a genuine and meaningful analysis.

Post by **Bonanza** » February 8, 2016, 8:31 pm

As a sample of retirees for your thesis have you been able to establish what percentage have regular internet access (and use this forum)? How does this compare with the numbers of retirees given to you by the immigration department? I would be interested in the latter figure as a means of establishing whether your 350plus sample target is a meaningful survey percentage.

Post by **PhDstudent** » February 8, 2016, 9:44 pm

Bonanza wrote:As a sample of retirees for your thesis have you been able to establish what percentage have regular internet access (and use this forum)? How does this compare with the numbers of retirees given to you by the immigration department? I would be interested in the latter figure as a means of establishing whether your 350plus sample target is a meaningful survey percentage.

As of now the total number of usable online responses is 157, and the number of usable responses from the immigration offices (Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Phuket) is only 85 (throwing away almost 150 copies). So, today I have 242 in my hands, still far from 350+

However, though, my thesis advisor is so kind that she's ok with the 200+ number as long as they are real, but the majority of the thesis committee asked me to do more.
So, now I redistribute the questionnaires at the immigration office where I have known persons to help me collect the real ones, as well as, wait for more of online responses from you guys ka [-o< [-o< [-o<

Post by **waanjai** » February 8, 2016, 9:48 pm

I would expect that the percentage of more or less (computer-)Illiterates would have been only slighty higher in a sample drawn from Immigration customers as compared to the now used samples being drawn from expats club membership or forum readership due to the spread of smartphones also in Isan in recent years.
These would have a higher non-response rate anyhow.

Post by **PhDstudent** » February 8, 2016, 9:52 pm

In addition, I would like to thank the gentleman (possibly in this forum) who just filled in my online questionnaire and mentioned this http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/crime/8 ... ing-bridge
I feel sorry for what happening to them

Post by **papaguido** » February 9, 2016, 6:14 am

PhDstudent wrote:Are there any more responses from Udon expat ladies and gentlemen? Come on, your responses are valuable to make a genuine and meaningful analysis.

Check your box, I sent you a message (PM).

Post by **pf-flyer** » February 9, 2016, 8:29 am

PHD Student:
I filled out the survey. I have been married to the same wonderful Thai lady from Issan for 43 years. We lived in the U.S.A in the state of Pennsylvania for 40 years. We did it all. Bought and paid for a home raised a daughter and a son and put both of them through college. I would like to echo a comment that has already been made on the survey. One of my biggest challenges was readjusting my expectations of living in Thailand versus the reality of living in Thailand. I would like to add an observation that you may want to make is to consider the Thai ladies that married a foreign man and lived in that foreign country and then returned to Thailand many years later like my wife did. Since my wife and I have retired in Thailand we have encountered numerous Thai ladies in Udon Thani that have been through that experience. Those Thai Wifes have had to go through the adjustment of expectations versus reality also. Please share your results with us when you have completed you survey. Good luck on pursuing your PHD.