598
Questionnaire Design and Sampling (special) Populations

Monday, 16 July 2018: 10:30-12:20
Location: 203D (MTCC NORTH BUILDING)
RC33 Logic and Methodology in Sociology (host committee)

Language: English

During 2015 nearly one million people arrived in Europe mainly through the sea borders of Greece and Italy in quest of a safer life. The unprecedented flows of refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants among them a considerable number of unaccompanied minors marked the onset of a humanitarian crisis that reaches far beyond the European continent. These processes of global migration and integration pose new challenges for migration and refugee research.

One of these challenges relates to  the sampling processes.  Thereare ambiguities in terms of who should be defined as a refugee and it is difficult to locate individuals on the move or living in  different accommodation settings. Diverse identification and registration policies as well as relocation and accommodation policies make international comparisons more complex. International comparisons are also difficult because of  the diversity of the individuals themselves: Refugees come from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, have different traumatic experiences related to pre and post-displacement factors and different needs in terms of housing, education, and health care.

In this regard research on survey designs for refugee populations has to take into account cross-cultural equivalence in questionnaire design, sampling strategies for hard-to-survey populations, collection modes employing new tools like social media, and sensitivity of related research especially as it pertains to  unaccompanied minors.

We welcome contributions that address sampling issues, in particular  methodological and ethical challenges in refugee research to provide new insights in the field.

Session Organizers:
Theoni STATHOPOULOU, National Centre for Social Research- EKKE, Greece and Oshrat HOCHMAN, GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany
Oral Presentations
Refugee Surveys in Germany: Challenges of a "Special Population”
Susanne WORBS, Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, Germany; Nina ROTHER, Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, Research Centre, Germany
Surveying Syrian Refugees in the Netherlands
Johannes KAPPELHOF, The Netherlands Institute for Social Research/SCP, Netherlands; Jaco DAGEVOS, The Netherlands Institute for Social Research/SCP, Netherlands; Jannine MAAT, The Netherlands Institute for Social Research/SCP, Netherlands
Using Smartphone Technology for Research Among Refugees in Germany
Florian KEUSCH, University of Mannheim, Germany; Christoph SAJONS, Walter Eucken Institut, Germany; Susan STEINER, Leibniz University Hannover, Germany; Mariel McKone LEONARD, University of Mannheim, Germany
Work Commitment and Interview Effects in Cross-Cultural Studies
Hans DIETRICH, Institute for Employment Research, Germany
Methodological Challenges of an Online Survey about Water Sensitive Urban Design in an Upmarket South African Residential Estate
Claire WAGNER, University of Pretoria, South Africa; Jacques DU TOIT, University of Pretoria, South Africa; Carina FIEDELDEY-VAN DIJK, ePsy Consultancy, Canada
Using Online Surveys to Research Diverse Sexualities and Gender Identities: Opportunities and Challenges
Rebecca BARNES, University of Leicester, United Kingdom; Catherine DONOVAN, University of Sunderland, United Kingdom