b Pre-testing & Launch of Survey.

In the month of December 2013, links to the online survey were sent to five colleagues for pretesting, including 2 graduate students who were CARICOM intra-regional migrants and 3 colleagues from different CARICOM countries. They suggested minor changes, including adding new questions and changing the structures of some others. All confirmed that the survey was ready for general distribution. Once the changes were completed, the survey was made available to the general public for two months: January 2014 to the end of February 2014. The SSRL provided weekly updates on the number of hits and completed responses. This ensured that I was able to target particular nationalities and their associations for more advertising if the response level was low in those countries.

91 4.03.c Analysis of the Survey Data.

At the close of the survey, a total of 501 individuals attempted the survey. However, only 283 met all three eligibility criteria and were allowed to complete the survey. The survey was completed by at least 1 citizen from each of the 15 CARICOM countries. During collection, the data from the online survey were stored in the secured server of the University of Saskatchewan before it was entered into SPSS for statistical analysis. Apart from the filter questions at the beginning of the survey, respondents were able to skip questions. These cases were treated as missing and were excluded from the analysis. The data were placed in frequency tables to show aggregates on issues such as how respondents self-identify, levels of attachments etc. In addition, comparative charts and bivariate tables were used to show relationships between variables such as migration history and levels of attachments. The interaction between variables was also tested for statistical significance to determine meaningful relationships. This was useful in answering questions such as: What factors are important in determining CARICOM identity? And what factors influence CARICOM identity? In order to determine statistical significance, the p value was used to evaluate whether the assumed (null) hypothesis is true. The null hypothesis for all statistical tests was that there is no significant association between the independent and

dependent variables. A p-value of less than 0.05 indicates that there are significant differences between independent and dependent variables. For the chi-square test, I used Cramer’s V to test the strength of relationships between variables. Cramer’s V of between 0.00 and 0.10 was interpreted to mean that association between the variables was weak; if it is between 0.11 and 0.30, a moderate association is assumed, and if it is greater than 0.30, the relationship between the variables is assumed to be strong (Healey, 2009:316).

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One of the main drawbacks of the statistical analysis in this study arises from the fact that CARICOM comprises fifteen (15) countries. This made it difficult to perform bivariate analysis using citizenship/country variables. The difficulty is twofold: a) any resulting table would be too large and difficult to read/interpret; and b) a large table does not lend itself well to statistical analyses because it would result in small numbers of cases per group. For example, Chi-square tests require counts of at least five per cell in order to provide meaningful and reliable results. In addition, with fifteen (15) countries, outputs could have upward of 50 cells, which would be an ineffective way of interpreting the data. As a result, in this and the subsequent chapters, bi- variate and multi-variate analyses with CARICOM country variables were recoded into three distinct and mutually exclusive groups: a) OECS Countries: Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis and St. Vincent & the Grenadines (OECS Secretariat, 2014); b) Outlying member states: the Bahamas, Suriname, Belize and Haiti (SALISES, 2013); and c) the “big four” Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago (Andriamananjara & Schiff, 2001; Corkran, 1971).

The concept of “outlying member states” is borrowed from the SALISES (2013:2), which used it to refer to the Bahamas, Suriname, Belize and Haiti. These are deemed outlying for different reasons: the Bahamas because even though it is a full member of CARICOM, it does not participate in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). As a result, the Bahamas is under no obligation to facilitate free movement of CARICOM nationals; b) Haiti is described as an outlying country because of language: it is the only French Speaking country in

CARICOM. Like the Bahamas, Haiti is also not a full member of the CSME; and c) both

Suriname and the Belize were classified as outlying because they are part of the South American and Central American mainland respectively. In addition, unlike the rest of CARICOM (except

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Haiti, which has French heritage), Suriname is the only CARICOM member with non-British heritage, having Dutch heritage instead (the only Dutch speaking member of CARICOM). Belize is also an outlying state because it has full membership in the Central American Integration System (SICA) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) as well as CARICOM. It is the only country to have membership in all three bodies.

Jamaica, Guyana, Barbados and Trinidad are the original four members of CARICOM (CARICOM Secretariat, 2011), and are usually referred to as the “big four” (Andriamananjara & Schiff, 2001; Corkran, 1971; Caribbean Journal, 2011). In addition, these four countries are seen to have the greatest influence on the organization, and are considered the most developed in the regional body (Griffith, 2002:103). They also wield economic power with Trinidad, Jamaica, Barbados and Guyana ranking 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th in terms of economic size among CARICOM countries (CIA Fact Book, 2014).

The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), is a unique CARICOM subgroup among nine-member states (eight of whom are part of CARICOM). The OECS acts as an

intergovernmental organization dedicated to economic harmonization and integration, protection of human and legal rights, and the encouragement of good governance between countries and dependencies in the Eastern Caribbean (OECS, 2014). They operate a common currency and in some ways are at a very advanced stage of economic harmonization. For our analysis, all variables which listed CARICOM countries were recoded into these three mutually exclusive groups.

94 Table 4.01

Citizenship of Survey Respondents__________________________________________________

Region Frequency Per cent

Big Four 131 52.0

Outlying 36 14.3

OECS 85 33.7______________

Total 252 100