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1. Tracing Trajectories: Qualitative Visualizations of Migrant Death in South Texas, 1993–2020

Author:
Molly Miranker
Publication Date:
09-2024
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal on Migration and Human Security
Institution:
Center for Migration Studies of New York
Abstract:
This paper explores how qualitative information may be used to enhance understanding and inform recommendations for improved accounting of migrant deaths along the Texas-Mexico border. While border crossing related deaths affect jurisdictions throughout the US’s Southwestern border states and Northern Mexican states, Texas has unique challenges that merit specific examination. In short, the management and investigation of unidentified migrant decedents in Texas is severely fragmented and often noncompliant with Texas Criminal Code Procedure. I explore a way to improve accounting of migrant deaths leveraging qualitative information, local newspaper articles from South Texas and Northern Mexico, by using descriptive summaries coupled with Sankey Diagrams and a programmatic technique, qualitative spatial representation (QSR). QSR enabled me to identify under-recognized stakeholders (South Texas locals, Mexican consulates) and under-supported counties (i.e., those with migrant deaths that do not share a border directly with Mexico). I found that local English-language newspapers obscured the prevalence of migrant deaths and that their narrative tone of “business as usual” normalized the occurrence of such deaths. The Spanish-language articles better represented the diversity of agencies and individuals that were involved in the various aspects of migrant remains management and forensic investigation, most notably residents of South Texas themselves (or situational participants who first found the remains) and Mexican consulates. Finally, I noted that the collaborations among Texas counties and between Texan and Mexican jurisdictions, when they were described in the newspapers, highlighted that the phenomenon of migrant deaths penetrates beyond the dividing line of the Rio Grande/Río Bravo River. Migrant deaths must be accounted for in a way that reflects a regional experience in which people may perish as far as ~100 miles into Texas’ interior. Considering these observations, I have two policy recommendations. First, the Office of the Texas Governor should establish funds distinct from the Operation Lone Star program for the management of unidentified human remains. Currently, grants through the Operation Lone Star Program are the only funds available in Texas to support identification of migrant decedents. However, this program is explicitly designed to further border security operations in the state of Texas, which can contradict efforts around recovery and identification. The documentation and forensic investigation of the unidentified deceased can be eclipsed or neglected under the larger deterrence aims of Operation Lone Star. Second, to improve accounting and increase documentation of migrant deaths, a Regional Identification Center should be established in South Texas. Not every county in Texas has or has access to a Medical Examiner’s office, including the means to transport and pay for autopsy or other forensic services. The Center would provide training, store extra equipment such as mobile refrigerated morgues, and hire personnel to inventory cases, and report information to the state (e.g., vital statistics) and to foreign consulates. A Regional Identification Center would counteract the challenges highlighted in the local newspaper summaries and QSR by decreasing the isolation of counties experiencing migrant deaths and serve as a documentary and communication hub for stakeholders in Texas and Mexico.
Topic:
Data, Qualitative Research, and Irregular Migration
Political Geography:
Texas and United States of America

2. Towards caring and safeguarding research practices – A trauma-informed approach to violence-related qualitative research

Author:
Gugu Resha and Amina Mwaikambo
Publication Date:
10-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR)
Abstract:
IIn recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the importance of understanding vicarious trauma among practitioners and researchers of sexual and gender-based violence as well as other forms of violence. Mental health practitioners and organisations working with people affected by violence are framing the provision of resources and tools to prevent vicarious trauma as a crucial ethical and institutional obligation. This comes from the understanding that trauma exposure can affect both the research participants and the researcher and can have lingering effects well beyond the duration of the study in the form of re-experiencing thoughts, feelings and sensations that were experienced during a traumatic event or the re-telling of that event. Among these risks faced by researchers, scholars have included the challenge of blurred boundaries between interviews and therapy during qualitative research, the spillover effects of traumatic experiences and emotional collateral experienced by research staff, and countertransference of trauma which has mostly been described in the context of therapists and clients but also extends to researchers. Research has also shown that plans for researcher safety and well-being are a necessary strategy for building researcher resilience and preventing vicarious trauma. The growing literature on this topic reveals the centrality of this issue to the area on qualitative research, violence and trauma. The work that the Center for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) has done on violence and how it impacts communities over the past few decades has highlighted the importance of support mechanisms and systems to ensure the well-being of the staff who carry out research with participants who have witnessed or experienced violence. Our own reflections from CSVR researchers, fieldworkers, and mental health practitioners have shown the need to establish a rigorous and consistent framework to adequately capacitate staff to understand the risks that come with designing and carrying out research with participants on their experiences of violence. More specifically, these reflections have highlighted the reality of how trauma from these experiences affects research participants in their engagement with researchers, and how the repeated exposure to people recounting their traumatic experiences can inadvertently affect researchers too. These reflections indicate the need for research frameworks that take the effects of trauma into account, to guide researchers in their research design in order to safeguard their own well-being as well as that of their participants during the project. This practice brief consolidates the feedback of researchers, data collectors, and mental health practitioners about the challenges they face in the field and offers practical strategies on how to use a trauma-informed approach in research to provide adequate support, training, and measures to ensure that these adverse effects are limited with appropriate planning and implementation. The objective of this practice brief is to promote a trauma-informed research practice that ensures that research projects: Address research participants in a manner that is sensitive to traumatic experiences of violence and its effects; Avoid re-traumatising participants; Avoid second-hand traumatisation of researchers and data collectors; and, Contain any adverse effects on the researchers and data collectors that may emerge from the context and exposure to people who have witnessed and experienced violence. This brief seeks to improve and consolidate the existing tools within CSVR’s own research methods and operationalise trauma-informed approach into the research design process and distress protocol. Furthermore, this brief seeks to provide guidance for CSVR’s partners, as well as other research and nonprofit organisations, social intervention projects, and practitioners who conduct research in areas such as gender-based violence, conflict, and other forms of violence that may result in traumatic effects on individuals, families, and communities.
Topic:
Inequality, Trauma, Mental Health, Social Cohesion, Qualitative Research, and Safeguarding
Political Geography:
Global Focus

3. Can and “should” Qualitative Research Be ValueFree? Understanding the Epistemological Tussle between Positivists and Interpretivists

Author:
Dayyab Gillani
Publication Date:
07-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Political Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
This paper seeks to address the question of value-free research in qualitative methods. The primary argument of the paper is that qualitative research is not value-free because it is not intended to be as such. It analyzes this question by tracing the roots of qualitative research at the ontological and epistemological level. It argues that qualitative research tradition has evolved out of constructivism and interpretivism both of which prioritize people’s interpretation and discount objectivity in social science research. Furthermore, the paper argues that social science research cannot be value-free because of strong ethical considerations. All the cases presented in the paper will fundamentally try to show that all qualitative research is essentially subjective not just because of the impediments but because it is not designed to be value-free.
Topic:
Ethics, Constructivism, Ontology, Social Science, Qualitative Research, Subjectivity, Epistemology, Interpretivism, and Objectivity
Political Geography:
Global Focus

4. Factsheet: Center for Immigration Studies (CIS)

Author:
Bridge Initiative Team
Publication Date:
11-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University
Abstract:
The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) is an anti-immigration research organization founded in 1985 that advocates a reduction in immigration numbers. CIS was founded by environmentalist, nativist, and anti-immigration activist John Tanton, who was also instrumental in founding the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), and NumbersUSA. CIS policy stances include a revision of policy on birthright citizenship, support for public charge rules, and opposition to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), sanctuary city jurisdictions, and family-based immigration, which it refers to as chain migration. CIS has promoted anti-Muslim rhetoric and shares endorsements from anti-Muslim figures, including former U.S. Attorney General and Senator Jeff Sessions and Frank Gaffney. The Trump administration has close ties to CIS and has referred to its research in speeches, television advertisements, and advocation of the Muslim Ban.
Topic:
Islam, Immigration, Islamophobia, Qualitative Research, and Center for Immigration Studies (CIS)
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

5. Beyond the Numbers: How qualitative approaches can improve monitoring of humanitarian action

Author:
Amelie Sundberg
Publication Date:
06-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
ALNAP: Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance
Abstract:
This paper looks at potential ways to improve the capture and uptake of qualitative data in monitoring of humanitarian programmes. The first section of the paper dispels three pervasive myths about the use of qualitative approaches in the humanitarian sector. The second section of the paper identifies promising practice used by humanitarian agencies when monitoring their programmes. This section should provide readers with ideas on how they can improve their qualitative approaches to monitoring within their own organisation. They should be considered as a menu of options to try depending on the varying context, capacities and monitoring needs of organisations, projects and teams. This is one of a three-part series of ALNAP papers about monitoring in humanitarian action. These three papers address specific challenges to monitoring humanitarian action as identified by ALNAP Members in the previous Scoping Paper. The series of papers look to inform humanitarian practitioners interested in using qualitative approaches for programme results monitoring, including M&E advisors and managers, technical sectoral leads and programme decision-makers.
Topic:
International Organization, Qualitative Research, Monitoring, and Humanitarian Response
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6. Reflecting on the Reflectivist Approach to Qualitative Interviewing

Author:
Alper Kaliber
Publication Date:
07-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
All Azimuth: A Journal of Foreign Policy and Peace
Institution:
Center for Foreign Policy and Peace Research
Abstract:
This study aims to reflect on qualitative interviewing with a particular emphasis on semi-structured interviewing (SSI), with the purpose of guiding students and young scholars of International Relations and Political Science who will use this method in their research. This study begs to differ from both radical postpositivist’s deep scepticism which makes any scientific inquiry almost impossible as well as from positivism’s unreflective, unproblematized, instrumental approach to interviewing. It proposes a reflectivist approach to qualitative interviewing that emphasizes the political nature of the interviewing process with various political, ethical and even social consequences. The reflectivist approach requires researchers to be self-critical at all times, in particular concerning their role and influence on the interview setting and the interviewee. This article proceeds as follows: It first addresses my own research on the nexus between civil society and the Kurdish question in Turkey, where SSI has been operationalized as the main research method. It then addresses the positivist and post-positivist debates on qualitative interviewing as well as the reflectivist approach that this study promotes. The article then engages in SSI in three distinct stages: pre-interview, interview and post-interview phases. Finally, the concluding part introduces some works utilising interviewing in Turkish IR and wraps up the theoretical/methodological arguments disseminated throughout the study at hand.
Topic:
International Relations, Political Science, Interview, and Qualitative Research
Political Geography:
Global Focus

7. Students’ opinions about the subject of Security Education in upper secondary schools

Author:
Barbara Drapikowska
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Security and Defence Quarterly
Institution:
War Studies University
Abstract:
The article is empirical and constitutes a qualitative analysis of students’ attitudes towards the implementation of the subject of Security Education in upper secondary schools to which they attended. The research attention was focused on the form of conducting classes, issues raised on the subject, assessment of their usefulness and proposals for improvements presented by students. The self-assessment of self-attitude towards the subject and level involved in the acquisition of the core curriculum was also presented.
Topic:
Security, Education, Students, Qualitative Research, and Teaching
Political Geography:
Global Focus

8. An analysis of popular justice on Polish Facebook discussion groups

Author:
Bartosz Płotka
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Security and Defence Quarterly
Institution:
War Studies University
Abstract:
The subject of this article is the efficiency of popular justice as the informal mechanism of public safety production on the example of Polish users of facebook.com. The investigation was based on the empirical data collected from Polish public discussion groups on the facebook website. The qualitative analysis of digital data allowed a presentation of what forms popular justice takes today and what kind of reconceptualisation it undergoes in comparison to its previous forms. The theory that backed up the study was the concept of informal institutions which allowed the most important characteristics and their changes to be demonstrated. The results show that popular justice is an ineffective mechanism of public safety production because of its selectivity and the high level of emotions related to judging people, which makes a just judgment impossible.
Topic:
Social Media, Justice, Facebook, Qualitative Research, Public Security, and Informal Institutions
Political Geography:
Europe and Poland