Introduction to Research Discussions

Many of you are already aware of the work I have been involved in lately, but it is always difficult to keep my friends and family informed. For those of you that do not know, I have been involved in a large project through the sociology department. About 8 graduate students have been volunteering their time to help interview undocumented migrants from Mexico after crossing, being apprehended and repatriated/deported to the border. The interviews that we are collecting are systematic, extensive surveys. We are trying to randomly select a large amount of migrants to get a general idea about what happens during the crossing experience. One issue with this approach is that we hear stories that are not recorded in human terms. The survey instrument is useful in quantifying information, but cannot capture the human dimension of the terrible abuses that occur in the process of undocumented migration. After hundreds of interviews, listening to stories of kidnapping, extortion, injury, death and lost loved ones, I feel that it is more important than ever to share people's stories with a larger audience. While many scholars have compiled vast quantities of migration stories, there can never be enough documentation of the stories of disenfranchised and marginalized people. The purpose of this online research journal is not purely to inform on immigration issues. I am involved in several other projects and would like a forum to discuss social science research and the challenges presented to all scholars that are attempting to use research as a vehicle for social change.

Having never entertained the idea of having a blog, this is a bit of a step for me. I have been asked on numerous occasions by a variety of parties to write about the work that I have been doing in an accessible, human and informative manner. The concept of blogging has always bothered me on a personal and professional level. Personally, I am not interested in hearing people talk about themselves and I also try to avoid the temptation of endless introspection. On the other hand, as a researcher it is also disheartening to see people proselytizing answers and facts without understanding the work involved in trying to arrive at a truly informed opinion. However, I will give it a shot and hope to create a forum to share stories from the field, and to start a discussion about the nature of academic research in general.

My goal is to describe the issues that arise during the research in a way that is accessible to those of you that are not social scientists. I will try my best to limit the jargon and theory, however, I will try to remain relevant to my fellow researchers. Having a strong commitment to applied, activist, engaged or public scholarship, I want to hold these discussions in an accessible, public forum to get perspectives from as many people as possible.

On another even more boring note, I need to inform everyone that certain details in the stories I will write have been omitted or altered for confidentiality reasons. All names are fake as well as any other information that could possibly identify an individual or our research site. Gotta keep IRB happy!

Thank you for reading and I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Jeremias