Researching Migration and the Family draws together a range of methods and practices of value in empirical research on the nexus between “migration” and “family”. The volume first locates these methods within the broad context of the issues surrounding migration and the family in Asia and Europe, giving an overview of the recent issues surrounding the family and migration, as well as providing a brief history of such research in Europe. Quantitative approaches are first discussed, with a focus on the methodological issues related to the use of both census and longitudinal data in family and migration research. The second part of the book focuses on qualitative approaches. The theoretical background to these approaches is first provided, tracing the main developments in qualitative research, as well as the fundamental paradigms underpinning such methodologies. With the help of examples specific to studies on migration and the family, the volume goes on to detail the methods of qualitative data collection, in particular, the interview, and participant and non-participant observation strategies. The methods of qualitative data analysis are then elucidated, with special focus given to the underlying principles and detailed methods of coding. The concluding chapter examines the problems and possibilities of combining both quantitative and qualitative methods in researching migration and the family.
The ideas in this volume were first discussed at an Asian MetaCentre training workshop on “Methodological Issues in Family and Migration Research”, held in Singapore in 2001. The book will be useful to researchers, students and practitioners seeking to ground themselves in the theoretical and practical issues in the course of researching the multiple links between “migration” and the “family”
