A validation of the ethnosurvey: the case of Mexico-U.S. migration.

This article evaluates the validity of the ethnosurvey as a method of demographic data collection by analyzing the representativeness of the Mexican Migration Project (MMP) as a source of information on Mexico-U.S. migration. After briefly delineating the philosophy, structure, and organization of...

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Published in:International Migration Review Vol. 34; no. 3; pp. 766 - 794
Main Authors: Massey, Douglas S., Zenteno, René
Format: Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell Fall2000
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        atl: A validation of the ethnosurvey: the case of Mexico-U.S. migration.
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          Massey, Douglas S.
          Zenteno, René
      su:
        Social statistics
        United States emigration & immigration
        Emigration & immigration in Mexico
        Test validity
        Social surveys
      sug:
        subj:
          Social statistics
          United States emigration & immigration
          Emigration & immigration in Mexico
          Test validity
          Social surveys
      ab: This article evaluates the validity of the ethnosurvey as a method of demographic data collection by analyzing the representativeness of the Mexican Migration Project (MMP) as a source of information on Mexico-U.S. migration. After briefly delineating the philosophy, structure, and organization of the MMP's ethnosurvey design, we describe MMP's public use dataset as well as Mexico's Encuesta Nacional de la Dinámica Demográfica (ENADID) as a benchmark for its systematic evaluation. Although the MMP over-represents migrants in the western states and mid-sized communities, it yields a relatively accurate and valid profile of migrants to the United States. A comparison of multivariate models estimated using MMP and ENADID data suggests that whereas the former's sampling errors are small and yield biases that are substantively unimportant, the latter's potential for specification error and selection bias may seriously compromise results. Our comparison thus validates the ethnosurvey as an accurate and reliable method of data collection and the MMP as a good source of reasonably representative data on documented and undocumented migration to the United States. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
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    language: English
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