Sampling migrants in general population surveys 1 |
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| Coordinator 1 | Professor Francesco Molteni (University of Milan, Department of Social and Political Sciences) |
| Coordinator 2 | Professor Riccardo Ladini (University of Milan, Department of Social and Political Sciences) |
| Coordinator 3 | Professor Ferruccio Biolcati (University of Milan, Department of Social and Political Sciences) |
Sampling migrant groups is one of the biggest challenges in survey research. Such a challenge has been tackled by relying on both probabilistic and non-probabilistic research designs focusing on specific sub-populations (often with a local focus). With very few and remarkable exceptions (i.e., the BHPS and the SOEP), what is lacking when studying migrant populations with survey methods is the comparison with the native population, which is a key issue when looking at the differences as well as the similarities between the groups. Because of this, one of the main approaches to perform such a comparison has been to refer to the subsamples of people of foreign origin from general population surveys samples. Although the strategy has various advantages, it presents several drawbacks mainly because the low numerosity of such populations, the potential selection bias leading to the under-representation of specific migrant groups, and the variety of sampling frames, often depending on the differentiated availability and composition of population lists across contexts. The latter becomes particularly relevant in comparative research. Moving from these considerations, the session welcomes papers focusing on strategies aimed at including subsamples of migrants in general population samples. Both contributions dealing with specific techniques (i.e., oversampling techniques, onomastic procedures, focused enumeration) or practical experiences will be appreciated. In addition, also contributions reflecting on the pros and cons of using immigrant sub-samples from already existent survey programs (i.e., the European Social Survey, the European Values Study or the European Union Labour Force Survey) are welcomed.