+ The process of selecting communities for the Mexican Migration has traditionally relied on + anthropological methods. Communities are chosen after a personal reconnaissance of the + geographic area to be studied by the principal investigators. Because the project initially + focused on Western Mexico, the traditional heartland for migration to the United States, + practically all of the earliest communities had significant indices of out-migration, which + could easily be detected using field interviews and simple observations of the frequency of + new homes, foreign license plates, currency exchanges, and international courier services. +
++ Until 2000, we lacked access to a valid measure to indicate the intensity of emigration + from specific municipalities and the only measure indicating migration was the sex ratio. + The only demographic fact regularly considered was the community’s sex ratio, which offer + general picture of the intensity of the process of international migration because in + Mexico emigration is so heavily male. After an initial round of fieldwork, investigators + compared their preliminary data with census statistics and formation available from + bibliographic sources. However, the MMP has never explicitly sought to survey only + communities with high rates of out-migration. Investigators simply seek to corroborate + that there is some migration from the community in question before proceeding. Then they + select four specific locations to represent each of four levels of urbanization: +
+ +Ranchos
+fewer than 2,500 inhabitants
+Pueblos (Towns)
+2,500 to 10,000 inhabitants
+Mid-sized Cities
+10,000 to 100,000 inhabitants
+Large City
+usually a particular neighborhood within in a state’s capital city
++ In the pueblos and ranchos, investigators conduct a complete census of dwellings and + undertake random selection from the resulting list. In mid-sized cities and urban + metropolises, investigators generally chose a traditional, well-established neighborhood–one + not dominated by recent rural-urban migrants. As a result, the urban samples are in reality + samples of urban neighborhoods or specifically demarcated quarters. In all cases, the + neighborhood must have at least 1,200 enumerated dwellings, from which a random sample of + 200 is taken. +
++ The methodology of the MMP thus yields results with a high degree of representativeness at + the community level, and in some of the smaller pueblos and ranchos investigators have been + able to survey every household in the community. Given that the sample is not targeted to + migrants per se, but surveys the community as a whole, the project needs a fairly large + sample size to generate a significant number of migrants. Traditional methods of cluster + sampling generally survey small numbers of respondents across a large number of areas, but + this generally yields small numbers of migrants to study an inability to make + generalizations at the community level. For example, rather than interviewing 20 households + in five communities we interview 100 households in one community, thereby enabling us to + make generalizations about migratory processes at the community level. If the frequency of + migration is 30%, on average the surveys would contain only six migrants in each of the five + communities, rather than 30 migrants in one community. +
++ At present we are able to draw upon an index of migratory developed for municipalities in + Mexico’s National Population Council (CONAPO) based on the 2000 and 2010 census. This index + provides reliable information about the level of U.S. migration prevailing at the municipal + level and is particularly useful in identifying new communities of origin for migrants in + new sending states, where heretofore little information has been available. In sum, after 25 + years of field experience, the MMP continues to use anthropological criteria for selecting + communities, which are then corroborated with available data from the census and other + sources to confirm the existence of migrants before making the final selection. +
++ The Ethnosurvey is eclectic and draws on methods and approaches well-known in sociology, + anthropology, psychology, and education. Its contribution and complexity lies in the way all + these methods are combined within a single study. The main idea for the Ethnosurvey is “to + complement qualitative and quantitative procedures, so one’s weakenesses become the other’s + strength, yielding a body of data with greater reliability and more internal validity than + is possible to achieve using either method alone.” (Massey 1987). +
++ The Ethnosurvey contains a series of tables that are organized around a particular topic, + giving coherence to the “conversation”. It follows a semi structured format to generate an + interview schedule that is flexible, unobtrusive and non-threatening. It requires that + identical information be obtained for each person, but questions, wording and ordering are + not fixed. The precise phrasing and timing of each query is left to the judgment of the + interviewer, depending on circumstances. +
++ In addition, the Ethnosurvey is explicitly designed to provide quantitative data for + multi-level analysis by compiling data at the individual, household, and community levels. + Detailed community-level data are compiled at the time of the survey by the fieldwork + supervisor; these data are of great help to interpret the socioeconomic context within which + individuals and households interact (Massey 1987). This small questionnaire is referred to + as the Community Data Inventory. +
++ The questionnaires are applied in three phases. In the first phase, basic social and + demographic data are collected from all members of the household. The interview begins by + identifying the household head and systematically enumerating the spouse and children, + beginning with the oldest. All children of the head are listed on the questionnaire whether + or not they live at home, but if a son or daughter is a member of another household, this + fact is recorded. A child is considered to be living in a separate household if he or she is + married, maintains a separate house or kitchen, and organizes expenses separately. After + listing the head, spouse, and children, other household members are identified and their + relationship to the head clarified. +
++ A particularly important task in the first phase of the questionnaire is the + identification of people with prior migrant experience in either the United States or + Mexico. For those individuals with migrant experience the interviewer records the total + number of U.S. trips, as well as information about the first and most recent U.S. trips, + including the year, duration, destination, U.S. occupation, legal status, and hourly wage. + This exercise is then repeated for first and most recent migrations within Mexico. +
++ The second phase of the ethnosurvey questionnaire compiles a year-by-year life history for + all household heads, including a childbearing history, a property history, a housing + history, a business history, and a labor history. The goal of this phase is to capture + occupational mobility, health status, migration history, and family formation. +
++ The third and final phase of the questionnaire gathers information about the household + head's experiences on his or her most recent trip to the United States, including the mode + of border-crossing, the kind and number of accompanying relatives, the kind and number of + relatives already present in the United States, the number of social ties that had been + formed with U.S. citizens, English language ability, job characteristics, and use of U.S. + social services. +
++ After the ethnosurvey questionnaires are completed and revised, data are entered in + Mexico. The entry programs perform initial screening, range checks, and simple tests for + logical consistency. The preliminary files are then transferred to Princeton University, + where additional data cleaning is performed, numeric codes are assigned to occupations and + places, and the final data sets are assembled into six primary data files, each providing + a unique perspective of Mexican migrants, their families, and their experiences. SIX + primary files have been created, each corresponding to a different unit of analysis: PERS, + MIG, MIGOTHER, HOUSE, LIFE and SPOUSE. Data at the community level have been compiled in + the file: COMMUN. +
++ The MMP database provides community- and sample-specific weights. For each community, you + will see a single weight for all the households in the home country sample and another + weight for all the households in the US sample. +
++ When working with pooled data from multiple communities, these weights give you the option + to adjust your estimates in order to take into account the relative sizes of all the + sampling frames. Whether you will need to weight your estimates or not will depend on what + your goal is. The document below contains a detailed explanation on our computation of the + weights, and suggests criteria to use them or disregard them. +
+Ranchos
-fewer than 2,500 inhabitants
+Ranchos
+fewer than 2,500 inhabitants
Pueblos (Towns)
-2,500 to 10,000 inhabitants
+Pueblos (Towns)
+2,500 to 10,000 inhabitants
Mid-sized Cities
-10,000 to 100,000 inhabitants
+Mid-sized Cities
+10,000 to 100,000 inhabitants
Large City
-usually a particular neighborhood within in a state’s capital city
+Large City
++ usually a particular neighborhood within in a state’s capital city +
+
A particularly important task in the first phase of the questionnaire is the
identification of people with prior migrant experience in either the United States or
Mexico. For those individuals with migrant experience the interviewer records the total
@@ -147,7 +161,7 @@ import CircleIcon from "../components/svg/Circle"
+
The second phase of the ethnosurvey questionnaire compiles a year-by-year life history for
all household heads, including a childbearing history, a property history, a housing
history, a business history, and a labor history. The goal of this phase is to capture
@@ -159,7 +173,7 @@ import CircleIcon from "../components/svg/Circle"
+
The third and final phase of the questionnaire gathers information about the household head's experiences on his or her most recent trip to the United States, including the mode of border-crossing, the kind and number of accompanying relatives, the kind and number of @@ -196,8 +210,7 @@ import CircleIcon from "../components/svg/Circle" When working with pooled data from multiple communities, these weights give you the option to adjust your estimates in order to take into account the relative sizes of all the sampling frames. Whether you will need to weight your estimates or not will depend on what - your goal is. The document below contains a detailed explanation on our computation of the - weights, and suggests criteria to use them or disregard them. + your goal is.