Difficulties concerning quantitative research in contemporary migration studies. Selected issues

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to show those dealing with issues of contemporary migration studies, what are the basic difficulties arising from quantitative research in this field. Issues concerning definitions are tended to with the most focus. These are best described as multilayered, but aside from problems with deciding the meaning of a given concept, there is a number of influences that come into play – political (teleological), legal, practical, process-wise and temporal. For those reasons, all of the above serve as a point of departure for comments made in regard to measurements, interpretations, access, controversies, and inconsistent and low-quality information found in databases. As a result, data dispersion and fragmentation becomes a nuisance, which significantly hinders the ability to carry out comparative research, both between countries as well as different categories of citizens of a given country. Also discussed is a token data-mining system on the issues of foreign migration. Closing arguments touch on a several chosen aspects of an actual research process, relevant from the standpoint of contemporary migration studies. This reconstruction refers to both Polish and European contexts.