2026-10-14T05:35:05Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/33357171 2026-09-30T11:51:07Z category_29725 portal_921 item_type_11 month_year_09_2026

Researching refugees: Some methodological and ethical considerations in social science and forced migration Forced Migration Online (24276783) Migration, asylum and refugee law FORCED MIGRATION ONLINE REFUGEE STUDIES SOCIAL SCIENCES HUMANITARIAN AID METHODS OF ANALYSIS Social scientists doing fieldwork in humanitarian situations face a dual imperative: research should be both academically sound and policy relevant. We argue that much of the current research on forced migration is based on unsound methodology, and that the data and subsequent policy conclusions are often flawed and/or ethically suspect. The paper identifies some key methodological and ethical problems confronting social scientists studying forced migrants or their hosts. These problems include: non-representativeness and bias; issues arising from working in unfamiliar contexts including translation and the use of local researchers; and ethical dilemmas including security and confidentiality issues and researchers are doing enough to 'do no harm'. The second part of the paper reviews the authors' own efforts to conduct research on urban refugees in Johannesburg. It concludes that while there is no single 'best practice' for refugee research, Refugee Studies would advance its academic and policy relevance by more seriously considering methodological and ethical concerns. 2026-09-30T11:51:07Z Text Online resource 10.25446/oxford.33357171.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/online_resource/Researching_refugees_Some_methodological_and_ethical_considerations_in_social_science_and_forced_migration/33357171 CC BY-NC-ND 4.0