Qualitative and quantitative analyses are tools that should be used in combination, argues Interim Provost and Dean of the Faculty and William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies Ellen Percy Kraly.
In the paper, “The Role of Demographic Research in Promoting Refugee Resettlement and Integration in the United States,” Professor Kraly and her co-writers consider the issues of refugee resettlement and integration in the United States. Refugee migration is an issue that requires a multi-disciplinary approach, one that involves “psychology, economics, anthropology, geography, the policy sciences, and bringing in human rights, and values. We do use mathematical models, but we also very much use qualitative research to understand the lived experience of people.”
The paper shares the results of Professor Kraly’s co-hosting of both a May 2019 scientific workshop and subsequent December 2020 virtual stakeholder meeting of the Committee on Population of the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. It considers refugee resettlement and integration in the United States within the broader framework of the literature on migrant integration and reflects on the role that population research can play in promoting successful and healthy refugee resettlement in the United States.
Data on refugees can be difficult to come by, especially in the United States. The Census does not ask about refugee or authorized migration status, and federal data related to the resettlement process are limited. “We do not do a very good job of tracking the integration of immigrants in the United States, full stop,” Kraly says. “We’re really strapped for data, so we often have to rely on theory and models for our predictions.”
The journal article heralds technological advances in computer modeling and simulation that are improving demographers’ ability to predict forced migration patterns, ranging from human movement to communicable disease spread to economic activity. “Emerging methodological innovations that take into account remote sensing and social media data will help create very useful models to predict displacement and how environmental change might prompt it,” she says.
However, there is a growing recognition, especially among emerging demographic researchers, that quantitative data alone are no longer enough. It must be paired with qualitative data to present a more detailed and nuanced picture of refugee settlement and integration. “You have to understand the ‘whys,’ their motivation and aspirations,” Kraly says. “That requires spending time to actually talk to people, to understand their lived experience.”
The article also encourages researchers to change their temporal lens — to evaluate the integration of not just the refugees themselves but of their children and grandchildren. “In the United States, we don’t have a tradition of long-term planning,” Kraly says. “We tend to think about the immediate costs of refugee resettlement, and there’s usually a surfeit of costs rather than benefits.
“But if we take an intergenerational perspective, historical evidence and models of integration show that, over time, there are benefits of immigration to the United States on the economy, on health, and productivity. We can use our demographic tools to provide a clearer perspective on the cost and benefits of immigration. But we also need our hearts and minds to consider the experiences of our new neighbors.”
For more information: https://news.colgate.edu/researchmagazine/2022/01/refugee-research-status.html/