CfP: Identifying and Mitigating Bias in Migration Research

This event will be held at the Institute for Advanced Social Studies (IESA-CSIC), Córdoba (Spain) on March 30-31st, 2023.

Submission deadline: December 15th, 2022

Undistorted observation is one of the defining ambitions of scientific research. Different methodological approaches address this challenge in different ways, yet they all seek to avoid misrepresentations, or at least assess and reduce their impact. However, achieving that aim has proved elusive: even in the natural sciences, obtained data are affected by observation procedures. In the social sciences, quantitative methodologies seek to minimize various forms of measurement bias, whereas qualitative approaches ponder the impact of researchers’ positionality and subjectivity. Migration scholars face added difficulties in this regard. Migrant populations are oftentimes dispersed, notoriously hard to locate, and potentially reluctant to participate; linguistic and cultural differences place added burdens.

This workshop offers a forum for scholars to present and discuss procedures and safeguards that help recognize and/or reduce bias in migration research. We welcome contributions from any methodological school or angle, e.g., qualitative, survey-based, mixed, or relying on digital trace data; however, a clear methodological focus is required.

Please send an abstract of your planned contribution (max. 300 words) to methatmig@gmail.com by December 15th, 2022; please state “Córdoba workshop” as email heading.