I am undertaking research regarding undocumented migrants and I very much want to conduct interviews to ascertain individual views, however I am a bit lost as to how best to go about this? Does anyone have any experience of this? How did you go about this?
Hej Stephanie. "Snowball sampling" technique is known to be helpful in studies like yours, where there is no (access to) sampling frame whatsoever. You are supposed to get in touch with at least one undocumented migrant first, using all available unofficial sources. Such sources could be personal networks, social networks, NGOs working with migrants etc. After conducting the first interview, you ask the respondent if they could provide you contacts of other undocumented migrants that might be interested to talk to you. You repeat this process with every respondent, usually until the data starts to repeat itself or when you end up being directed to the same persons over again.
Beware of the limitations of snowball; e.g. you might end up circling around the personal network of your 1st respondent and getting similar experiences/responses; ethical issues with privacy of immigrant, etc.
Good luck with your study!
Hi Stephanie, I mainly agree with Hayk, but I would just like to add this: it is very important to build confidence with the first person or a gatekeeper you will talk to, and every further interviewee. In that sense, it is necessary that your research and its goals are clearly and sincerely explained to anybody you will meet during the process of interviewing. Best regards, Rahela
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