ABSTRACT
One of the first questions asked on the perception section of the questionnaire related to perceptions about the place of residence. This chapter focuses on shifts from the migration and employment characteristics of the sampled population to perceptions about the decision to migrate. It shows how respondents view differently sized places, from rural hamlets to the very largest metropolitan centers. One study completed in Southeast Asia demonstrated that migrants who moved from rural areas to small urban places in Thailand were satisfied with life in different-sized places. In general, figures for migrants and nonmigrants were quite similar and only in Tebing Tinggi were intracity differences statistically significant. Migrants had more often visited the primate city in all locales, but differences between migrants and nonmigrants were generally quite small on this variable and thus apparently perception and preference is not strongly influenced by actual behavior or direct visits.
