Makassar, 13 March 2026
The PELITA Project (Understanding the Education and Labor Market Consequences of Indonesia’s Quest to Become the World’s Leading Nurse Exporting Nation) held another routine online meeting on March 13, 2026, involving research team members from across institutions LMU Munich (Germany), Universitas Hasanuddin, the Australian National University (ANU), Universitas Airlangga, and field research team members. This activity involved 12 participants, consisting of the Pelita Leader, Prof. Dr. Julia Lohmann; Principal Investigators, Prof. Rini Rachmawaty, Prof. Ferry Efendi, and Prof. Firman Witoelar; Research Assistants, Ani Ilmi Auli, Eliana ChavarrĂa Pino, Tri Yatmi and Nursindia A. Sugoro; and Research Administrators, Muh. Fadhil Ichsan Jaya and Anisa Salsabila.
In the discussion on sampling strategy, the team agreed on a two dimensional stratification approach as a starting point by region (Java and Outside Java) and by institution type (public and private) in order to reduce initial complexity. If the resulting sample is deemed insufficiently representative, additional stratification layers will be considered. Prof. Julia Lohmann of LMU Munich was tasked with preparing three alternative versions of the sampling stratification framework, while Prof. Rini and Ilmi were asked to calculate feasibility figures before the end of the month, covering institutional coverage, travel budget requirements, and the possibility of visiting several institutions in a single trip.
On the logistics side, the team discussed travel efficiency by combining visits to multiple institutions along a single route. Some locations require approximately 8 hours of travel by road, while institutions in areas such as Ambon and Flores can be reached more efficiently by flight from Makassar. Logistical challenges in remote locations were acknowledged as a consideration, but were not treated as an absolute basis for excluding an institution from the sampling list. A sampling version is considered viable if at least one of the three proposed versions proves logistically feasible.
The participant identification system was discussed at length given the longitudinal nature of the PELITA study, which involves five planned survey rounds. The team highlighted a particular challenge in Indonesia’s nursing education system, where students complete two academic stages the academic program and the professional (Ners) program meaning the Student Identification Number (NIM) may change between the two stages. This has the potential to create data duplication if the tracking mechanism is not carefully designed.
After evaluating several options, the team agreed that using unique study codes generated by the research team is the best solution. Under this mechanism, respondents enter their NIM into the survey, and the research team then creates a separate new study identifier. The linkage file connecting NIMs to study codes is stored physically separate from the main dataset to protect respondent privacy. For students transitioning from the academic to the professional stage, the team agreed to collect both NIMs (academic and professional) along with birth month and year as a secondary identifier. Fuzzy matching analysis based on demographic data will be applied to unmatched records in longitudinal analysis.
On the technical side, each institution will have its own REDCap survey instance, allowing respondents’ institutional origins to be tracked automatically. This approach enables more structured data management without adding burden to respondents.
Regarding the research protocol and ethics submission, the team set a target of submitting the survey appendix in the following week, while the initial ethics application submission is scheduled for the end of March or early April 2026 following the holiday period. Field data collection is planned to begin in August 2026. Although the protocol was considered generally sound, a detailed review by all team members is still needed, particularly on the qualitative interview recruitment section. Ilmi and his team were also asked to review the ethics protocol submitted by Prof. Ferry Efendi and Prof. Julia.
In the administration and regulatory session, Prof. Rini reported on progress regarding the research tax exemption process. Communication with the local tax office has been initiated to clarify the status of the research as an activity conducted by the same university, thus qualifying for exemption. One permit response is still being processed, with an estimated completion time of 5-6 weeks from the date of submission.
The next meeting will be scheduled following the submission of the survey appendix and the completion of the sampling stratification versions. All follow-up actions were agreed to be completed prior to the research ethics submission, as a preparatory step toward the field data collection phase planned for mid 2026.
