Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
- What’s new about MIGNEX?
- How did you select the country case studies?
- Why do you not use representative samples in each country?
- Will the data be openly accessible?
- What is Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA)?
- How is MIGNEX linked with the European Union?
- How can I get involved in MIGNEX?
- I want to do my PhD in association with MIGNEX – how do I proceed?
- Is MIGNEX hiring?
- Does MIGNEX offer internships?
- My research is also about migration and development – how can we collaborate?
- I have a media enquiry relating to MIGNEX, how can I get in touch?
1. What’s new about MIGNEX?
Migration and development is a well-established research field, and MIGNEX is designed to add to what we already know. Our primary objective is to better understand the two-way relationships between migration and development and to formulate how that understanding should be used in policy-making.
MIGNEX is a uniquely large project, which makes it possible to compare and analyse a wide range of experiences. We innovate by shifting the focus from the national to the local level, and we use research methods that have rarely been used in research on migration and development.
2. How did you select the country case studies?
MIGNEX aims to understand the mechanisms that link migration, development and policy. Therefore, knowledge about specific countries is primarily a means to an end. We selected countries that represent a wide range of experiences with migration and development. It is the combination of countries (and research areas within them) that holds the key to new knowledge with long-term value.
3. Why do you not use representative samples in each country?
MIGNEX seeks to document relationships between migration and development at the local level. We therefore concentrate our research in 25 local areas across the ten countries covered by the project. Our survey is designed to be representative of the population in each research area, and we will achieve this with a quasi-random sample of the populations.
4. Will the data be openly accessible?
Yes. The data will be ‘as open as possible, as closed as necessary’ so that our data can be used as much as possible while the anonymity of participants is preserved. We plan to release the MIGNEX data sets for public use during the final month of the project (August 2024). The embargo ensures that the first release of results will be through MIGNEX publications. Details about our data can be found in MIGNEX Handbook Chapter 3, Data management plan.
5. What is Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA)?
Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) is a method for systematically learning from a set of case studies. In MIGNEX, the case studies are the 25 research areas. This number is too small for ordinary statistical analysis and too large for traditional qualitative analyses, but perfect for QCA.
The method allows us to examine how combinations of circumstances have particular effects. For instance, we may find that an expansion of local employment opportunities reduces migration aspirations in some cases but not in others, and identify what explains the difference. One of our Background Papers examines the potential of QCA in greater details.
6. How is MIGNEX linked with the European Union?
MIGNEX is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme. The funding is based on European demand for policy-relevant research on migration and development. However, the project has been designed independently by the research team. We will publish results regardless of how they fit with the European Union’s political agenda. Depending on what we find, our recommendations could criticize European policies.
Our commitment to research ethics and research integrity emphasizes the independence of the research. Our responsibilities as researchers are not only towards our funder but also towards the individuals who participate and the societies in which we collect data. MIGNEX Handbook Chapter 4, Research ethics and research integrity, provides additional information.
7. How can I get involved in MIGNEX?
If you have a job where insight from MIGNEX is relevant, please request to join our End-User Panel. This is a unique opportunity to shape and get insight into MIGNEX Research. Panel members share their views with the MIGNEX team through an annual survey. They also vote on which topics we should pursue in some of our publications.
MIGNEX organizes a small number of events in different locations, some of which are open to the public. They are advertised as news items on the website and in the MIGNEX newsletter.
8. I want to do my PhD in association with MIGNEX – how do I proceed?
Six of the institutions in the MIGNEX consortium are universities and offer PhD programmes. Enrolling in these programmes may provide an opportunity for working with the university’s MIGNEX researchers and contributing to the project.
MIGNEX cannot offer any funding for PhD candidates since the project’s budget is allocated to specific tasks and activities. If you are interested in pursuing a PhD, we encourage you to examine funding requirements and admission criteria for the relevant university before contacting the university’s lead MIGNEX researcher.
9. Is MIGNEX hiring?
The research tasks are for the most part allocated to current employees of the institutions that make up the MIGNEX consortium. Since MIGNEX is a five-year project, the staffing is liable to change. However, since most of the team members spend only a small share of their time on MIGNEX, staff changes are unlikely to open up new positions.
If any of the institutions have vacancies that include work on MIGNEX, they will be announced as news items on the website and, whenever possible, also in the MIGNEX newsletter.
10. Does MIGNEX offer internships?
There is no internship programme as part of the project itself, but some of the institutions that carry out the project can host interns. The Migration and Development Research Group at UNU-MERIT and Maastricht University can host interns for 3–6 months, provided they are still students. It is administered by Veronika Georgieva. The Migration Research Center at Koç University (MiReKoc) has a visiting fellows programme for graduate students and recent graduates.
11. My research is also about migration and development – how can we collaborate?
We are keen to learn from research that others are doing. If you have publications that relate to the themes or countries that MIGNEX examines, we will be grateful if you send them to us. Also, if you organize conference panels or other events where MIGNEX research would fit, please let us know.
MIGNEX works on a tight and carefully planned schedule that leaves little room for new activities. This restricts the types of collaboration we have the capacity to engage in.
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12. I have a media enquiry relating to MIGNEX, how can I get in touch?
Please get in touch with Hannah Murray, our communications lead: mignex@odi.org.uk.