*3.2. Sample*

In total, 23 university students (19 women and 4 men, aged between 16 and 24 years) took part in the experience. Students who participated in the experience in January 2019 (*n* = 13) are referred to as Group 1, and those who participated in June 2019 (*n* = 10) are referred to as Group 2 (see Figures 1 and 2). The percentage of participants who had previous experience in the extra-academic field was high. On the one hand, of the total number of participants in Group 1, 10 people had previously participated in ECA and three had not. On the other hand, when referring to Group 2, six people had previously participated and four had not.

**Figure 1.** Characteristics of the sample. Distribution of the sample by group.

**Figure 2.** Characteristics of the sample. Distribution of the sample by degree studied.

#### *3.3. Research Tool: In-Depth Open Interviews*

The importance of the biographical-narrative approach in the social sciences is evident [49]. One of the options we considered for this study was to analyze the journals that the students were writing throughout their experience in Tangier. We believed that these journals were a valuable tool, as they reflected their day-to-day reflections. However, we were aware that many of the written reflections were personal and that the students may not want them to see the light. Given that the ultimate purpose of research into meaningful life experiences is not merely to understand the experiences people have had, but how their meaning is constructed [50], we decided to conduct in-depth open-ended interviews. As Chawla [51] defends, most recent studies of significant life experiences have been undertaken through structured or semi-structured interviews. When, thanks to our research, we encouraged participants to reflect on their own experience, we were at that moment contributing to a greater sense of authorship of the participants' lives, and the development and transformation of the participants was reinforced.

Therefore, in order to collect the necessary information, in-depth open interviews were conducted after the students had returned from Morocco. Interviewing is a research technique where an individual (interviewer) requests information from another individual or group of individuals (interviewee/s) by using a script of questions to obtain data regarding a specific matter [52]. The interviewer also encourages participants to go further by re-wording, re-ordering, or clarifying the questions. This technique was chosen for the present study as it has been proven to be adequate to explore the experiences of participants and the meanings they attribute to them [53].

The question script developed for this study was composed of 10 questions, as seen in Table 1. Questions 1 to 7 were developed based on Moussa-Inaty's [24] reflection guiding questions method. Moussa-Inaty's research showed the positive e ffect that certain questions can have in guiding student reflection (see Table 1). Additionally, consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ) were also considered when designing the question script [53]. Through these questions, the primary student reflections from the voluntary extracurricular experience in Tangier were collected.

> **Table 1.** Reflection guiding questions used in the in-depth interviews.
