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Migration Between Africa and Europe (MAFE): Advantages and Limitations of a Multi-site Survey Design

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Migration between Africa and Europe

Abstract

Paradoxically, while sub-Saharan migration represents only a small fraction of total migrant flows and stocks in Europe, it has become a major topic of public debate. This is perhaps because quantitative data on African migration are quite scarce, so the phenomenon is poorly understood. In response to this knowledge gap, the MAFE project (Migration between Africa and Europe) was set up to collect original quantitative data with the aim of shedding new light on African migration. This chapter presents the methodology of the MAFE project, which goal was to produce data for analysis of migration trends, their causes and consequences at micro level. The MAFE project is based on comparable, longitudinal (retrospective), multilevel and multi-topic data concerning three African migration flows (migrants from DR Congo, Ghana and Senegal). A multisite approach is adopted, based on surveys conducted in countries of both origin and destination. Beyond the MAFE project, this chapter highlights the classic problems encountered by surveys on international migration, and recommends a more (self-)critical approach in this field of research.

Text previously published as an article: Beauchemin C., 2015, Migration between Africa and Europe (MAFE): Advantages and Limitations of a Multi-Site Survey Design, Population-E, vol. 70, n°1, p.13–36. [DOI:10.3917/pope.1501.0013]

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Notes

  1. 1.

    An extensive account of the MAFE project and methodological choices is available in Beauchemin (2012).

  2. 2.

    The concept of household is traditionally used to describe a group of people living under the same roof, under the authority of the household head, at the time of the survey. At another point in time, the head or place of residence could be different, with some members leaving and others arriving. Consequently, when speaking of a household, the reference to the future or the past is far from clear. Does it refer to the group, the place of residence or the household head?

  3. 3.

    In the MAFE project, the household is defined in a conventional manner as a group of people living together and sharing their resources in part or in full with a view to satisfying their essential needs (housing, food). To be considered as members of a household, the people in question must have lived or have the intention to live under the same roof for at least six months.

  4. 4.

    The meaning of regular contact was left to the judgment of the respondents. A questionnaire module addresses the nature and frequency of this contact.

  5. 5.

    For more information on calculating migration rates with MAFE data, see also Schoumaker and Beauchemin (2015).

  6. 6.

    For a detailed discussion of the recording of attempted migrations and an analysis of the factors in attempted and effective migrations, see Mezger (2012). On return intentions, see Flahaux (2013).

  7. 7.

    The questionnaires can also be found on the project website: http://mafeproject.site.ined.fr/en/. While the MMP is presented as an “ethnosurvey” (Massey 1987) giving interviewers the latitude to formulate the questions, the MAFE questionnaires contain precisely worded questions to be respected by interviewers.

  8. 8.

    For a complete overview of the databases, see Beauchemin et al. (2014).

  9. 9.

    Alternatively, questions could have been included in the individual questionnaire to describe the places in which the individuals have lived. But this idea was dropped as the questionnaire was already very long.

  10. 10.

    The survey tools exist in French, English, Spanish and Italian. The questionnaires were not translated into the local African languages but workshops were organized during the interviewer training sessions to discuss the translation of potentially problematic concepts.

  11. 11.

    For a detailed analysis of the legal trajectories of Senegalese migrants, see Vickstrom (2013).

  12. 12.

    MAFE project data are available in French and English and can be freely accessed at: http://mafeproject.site.ined.fr/en/data/

  13. 13.

    Source: http://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/unup/index_panel3.html

  14. 14.

    The sample target regions are described in Schoumaker and Diagne (2010).

  15. 15.

    The over-sampling of some categories of persons, such as women, is corrected using weights (Schoumaker et al. 2013b).

  16. 16.

    In Senegal, this process relied on the results of the 2002 census that included questions on international migration. In DR Congo, in the absence of a recent census, stratification was carried out on the basis of information provided by qualified individuals (researchers, specialists from international organizations, managers in public administration, etc.) Given the prevalence of international migration in Accra and Kumasi and the dispersion of migrants in these cities, stratification of this kind was not necessary in Ghana.

  17. 17.

    This is not the main explanation for the smaller number of return migrants in Senegal observed in Table 2.3. Their number was increased in Ghana and in DR Congo through finer stratification of households. For further details, see Schoumaker et al. (2013b).

  18. 18.

    Given the small sample size in each country, it was not possible either to apply alternative selection methods designed to reach rare populations in the absence of a sampling frame, such as respondent-driven sampling (Heckathorn 1997) or intercept point surveys (McKenzie and Mistiaen 2009; Marpsat and Razafindratsima 2010).

  19. 19.

    Weights were calculated to fit the distribution by sex and age observed in other available sources, the source naturally varying by country. For more detail, see Schoumaker et al. (2013b).

  20. 20.

    It should be noted that some reported migrants may never have lived in the agglomerations or even the countries surveyed (a grandfather from Accra may mention a grandson born in the USA but with whom he nevertheless has regular contacts). These migrants can, where necessary, be removed from the analysis samples.

  21. 21.

    See Schoumaker et al. (2013b) for an overview of the different weightings and discussions on the use of weightings in the specific cases of transnational samples and life event history data.

  22. 22.

    For more statistical detail on these mismatches, see Beauchemin (2012). In the future, they could be minimized by extending the samples to other countries and origin regions, or both, as the retrospective nature of the data makes such an extension possible. The MMP has collected data gradually over time. In 1982 the sample concerned just five Mexican communities; today it concerns over 100 (Massey 2000). As part of the MAFE project, a second wave of around 400 Senegalese migrants was interviewed in Spain in 2010 and 2011.

  23. 23.

    See the MAFE project website for more details on the work already carried out.

  24. 24.

    The ideal solution would be for a new survey to collect both subjective information on the well-being of households (such as questions Q312 and Q313 in the MAFE life event history questionnaire) and objective information, like the EMIUB survey, for example, which collected retrospective information on housing quality (Poirier et al. 2001).

  25. 25.

    Although the MAFE data (particularly the African samples representative of capital city regions) can also be used to address subjects other than international migration.

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    Cris Beauchemin

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    Cris Beauchemin

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Beauchemin, C. (2018). Migration Between Africa and Europe (MAFE): Advantages and Limitations of a Multi-site Survey Design. In: Beauchemin, C. (eds) Migration between Africa and Europe. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69569-3_2

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