Social Research Methods: Migration in Perspective

Abstract

Migration specific methodologies for research have not yet emerged in a unified manner; hence, a void in scholarship persists which has resulted in the growing dilemmas in conducting research on migrant populations. The growing attention given to the research that involves migration has not yet been passably translated into corresponding research on the methodological challenges researchers generally handle. Quantitative methods have come under criticism for not providing an in-depth description of a phenomenon. Hence many researchers employ the mixed-method approach. This allows numerical data to be supplemented by qualitative findings and contextual explanations of both researchers and researched. We argue that no way is researching in a normal condition similar to the precarious conditions migrants go through. Due to the vulnerable positions of migrants who are the main population of migration research, it demands special attention in selecting and implementing appropriate methods.