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Children-focused research methodology in migration context: triangulating techniques, social actors, and perspectives

par Fresnoza-Flot, Asuncion
Référence Rethinking childhoods and migrations. Multidisciplinary understandings and key concepts, Palgrave MacMillan, Cham, page (237-251)
Publication Publié, 2026-01-02

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Résumé :

The rich literature on children in the context of migration unveils a diversity of research strategies and data-collection techniques. Which of these myriad strategies and techniques are particularly effective in accessing and understanding children’s lifeworld? How do we obtain meaningful data on/about children at different analytical levels (macro, meso, micro)? Drawing on two separate studies on children in transnational and “mixed” families in France and Belgium, the present chapter underlines the importance of a children-focused research methodology through triangulating data-gathering techniques, social actors, and perspectives. This methodology provides access to children’s experiences, perspectives, and social locations in direct, indirect, or combined ways. Whereas direct ways entail onsite interactions with children and the mobilisation of several data-collection techniques, indirect ways involve interactions with people having close relations to the children under study, qualitative data-gathering techniques, and analysis of social and legal norms and the role of media. Direct and indirect ways can be combined at any moment during fieldwork. Their strength lies in their solid contextualisation of children’s lives, emphasis on the importance of clearly defining “children” as a category in a specific study, and adoption of triangulation.