Uzbekistan new indd

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methodology
This study is based on 18 in-depth interviews with 
emigrants from Uzbekistan holding PhD degrees in 
natural (physics, chemistry, biology), social (eco-
nomics, education, law, political science) and ap-
plied sciences (medicine, engineering, computer sci-
ence).
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 The pool of respondents have the following 
characteristics:
•  They have resided outside of Uzbekistan for 
4 to 19 years.
•  The majority of them left Uzbekistan, on their 
own, without their family members.
•  All of them still have family members in 
Uzbekistan.
•  Most of the respondents got their under-
graduate education in Uzbekistan and their 
Master and PhD degrees abroad.
•  Most of the respondents’ current occupation 
is directly relevant to the areas of expertise 
obtained in the course of their studies.
The respondents were selected through the use of strat-
ified snowball sampling and through the online net-
work of Uzbek professionals abroad. First contacts were 
made through personal networks within immigrant 
communities in the UK, Belgium, Germany, France, 
Switzerland, the United States, Canada, and Japan.
To control for gender differences, the sample 
was composed of an equal number of female and 
male respondents. The interviews lasted on aver-
age for about one hour. Although interviews fol-
lowed a semi-structured guide with predetermined 
themes that uncovered the behavior and intentions 
of the emigrants, we also allowed for a free-flowing 
discussion. In order to minimize gender biases, we 
initially did not tell the respondents that we focused 
on the question of highly skilled female migration in 
Uzbekistan. Respondents were informed only at the 
very end of the interview. In the interviews we asked 
female respondents to reflect on their gender roles. 
Our male respondents were also asked to reflect on 
their gender roles. In addition, we asked whether if 
they had been a woman their situation and motiva-
tions would have been different. This study is to be 
seen as a probe that offers some promising avenues 
for more in-depth research.