2. Methods

In order to investigate the development-related commitment of KAAD students and alumni in an differentiated and comprehensive manner, we developed a multi-dimensional and multi-perspective research design. That should enable us to examine and systematically compare the various factors and dimensions which play a role in this process. For instance, it can make a difference to the development-related engagement of the scholarship holders whether they have actually returned to their country of origin or not, and how they think about it. In order to be able to systematically distinguish their activities from one another, we took a first step to distinguish between two groups: KAAD alumni who have returned to their country of origin and KAAD alumni who have not returned to their country of origin. In addition, international students and researchers currently funded by KAAD and staying in Germany were included in the study in order to ask them about their current activities as well as their expectations and assessments regarding a possible return. In order to do a comparison to the world outside of KAAD, we also included a group of international students who are not funded by KAAD in the study. This should help to better assess the importance of the support networks of KAAD and its partner organisations in Germany and in the countries of origin.