5
specific hypotheses here, there is some evidence in the literature that women would
discount the future less than men given their clearer focus on family and child rearing.
Question #10 asks the age of respondents, and we include it here not merely as a
general control variable across our two samples, but also because of the considerable
evidence (see Davids and Falkof, 1975) that supports the view that adolescents are
more impatient that older generations. Knowing age, moreover, also allows us to
compute the percentage of one’s life `immigrant’ respondents have spent in the West.
The remaining questions differ across our two samples although they are structured to
maximize compatibility. Reviewing these questions separately:
Western based questionnaire: Question #6 asks respondents the number of
years they have studied in the West (undergraduate and graduate). Question #11
simply asks country of origin ranging from 0 = USSR to 4 = Eastern Europe, and where
1 = Russia, 2 = Ukraine, 3 = other former USSR countries such as Armenia, Georgia,
Latvia. Note that even though this question is not asked in our Ukrainian sample, we
assign all respondents there a score of 2 [Ukraine].
2
Question #12 asks whether the
respondent is currently living in a different from his country of origin, and if so, for how
long. This question, then, provides an estimate not only of residence change but also a
period of time spent in a ‘new’ country. This information is useful especially for those
cases when somebody immigrated without attending a higher educational institution.
We assume that peer influence is higher, but even just living in the West, especially for
a long period of time, would eventually propel changes in individual values. In terms of
asking current country of residence, coding is similar to that of question #11 plus 5 =
United Kingdom and 6 = USA. Question # 13 assess a respondent’s current peer
group or social acquaintances by asking whether a respondent communicates primarily
with people who are citizens of the current country of residence versus other foreign
nationals.
2
Mobility is low and you must a citizen of Ukraine to go to Ukrainian schools and colleges.
Hence, we can safely assume that our sample uniformly contains only Ukranian citizens.
Convention