Introducing Migration

Researching Migration

In this course, Professor Vicky Hosegood (University of Southampton) explores migration research. In the first module, we introduce the study of migration and consider some issues around how migration is understood in public discourse. The second module looks at how migration is conceptualised by scholars, outlining four key elements of its definition, notably that it must involve a long-term change in place of residence. In the third module, we think about how migration is measured, focusing on two main types of measurement - migrant stocks and migration flows - in terms of their uses and relative strengths and weaknesses. The fourth module then outlines the main sources of data on migration, and we conclude with a fifth module on the specific challenges of researching two groups of migrants - those who are highly mobile, and those who “hard to reach” for other reasons.

Introducing Migration

In this module, we introduce the study of migration and think about some issues in how migration as a phenomenon is understood. We focus on: (i) the tendency of public discourse on migration to become highly politicised and, at times, prejudicial; (ii) the scale and nature of migration in the contemporary world, in terms of both international and internal migrants; (iii) the issue that perspectives on migration are often influenced by current affairs, such as the focus on migration from the European Union during the 2016 Brexit referendum; (iv) the complexity of migration and the wide range of factors which influence whether and how people migrate.