Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T23:29:20.535Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Survey Research among Middle Eastern Immigrant Groups in the United States: Iranians in Los Angeles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2016

Mehdi Bozorgmehr
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology; von Gruncbaum Center for Near Eastern Studies University of California, Los Angeles
Georges Sabagh
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology; von Gruncbaum Center for Near Eastern Studies University of California, Los Angeles

Extract

Immigration research poses special problems, but survey researchers studying immigrant groups rarely write about the problems they encounter in the design and conduct of their surveys (Hurh and Kim 1984). Three areas of particular importance are: (1) securing the approval of community leaders or persons of influence; (2) identifying adequate frames for relatively small immigrant populations, from which random samples can be selected; and (3) conducting the fieldwork, including recruiting and training interviewers fluent in immigrant languages.

The main objective of this paper is to describe various stages of our recently completed survey of Iranians in Los Angeles (see Figure 1). We pay particular attention to the problems we have faced in carrying out this study, and how resolving some of them reshaped our original research design.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Middle East Studies Association of North America 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Edna, Bonacich, and Modell, John. 1980. The economic basis of ethnic solidarity. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Mehdi, Bozorgmehr, and Sabagh, Georges N.d.High status immigrants: a statistical profile of Iranians in the United States. Iranian Studies. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Fawcett, James T., and Arnold, Fred. 1987. The role of surveys in the study of international migration: an appraisal. International Migration Review 21:15231540.Google Scholar
Won Moo, Hurh, and Kim, Kwang Chung. 1984. Korean immigrants in America. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, Madison, N.J.Google Scholar
Pyong Gap, Min N.d.Problems of Korean immigrant entrepreneurs. International Migration Review. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Georges, Sabagh, and Bozorgmehr, Mehdi. 1987. Are the characteristics of exiles different from immigrants? The case of Iranians in Los Angeles. Sociology and Social Research 71:7784.Google Scholar
Eui-Hang, Shin, and Yu, Eui-Young. 1984. Use of surnames in ethnic research: the case of Kims in the Korean-American population. Demography 21:347360.Google Scholar