Methodological Challenges for National and Multi-sited Comparative Survey Research

This paper will examine the ways in which ‘textbook’ survey research methods need to be adapted and refined for research with forced migrants, and the ways in which cross-national contexts, as well as research within one national context with forced migrants from different communities, affect the utilization of survey methods. Linked to this, the ways in which survey design issues need to be sensitive to the diversity between and within countries and communities will be explored. The paper will draw on two surveys, one a UK national survey and the other a multi-sited comparative survey in the UK and South Africa, to explore access to forced migrants in different contexts and the appropriateness of different modes of data collection between and within countries and communities (e.g. paper self-completion, face-to-face interviews and web-based surveys). The impact of politics, language and literacy, gender, and immigration status, especially irregular and insecure statuses, will be examined.