QuaMaFA team organized Graduate student summer school on 18-19 July 2022 at Goethe University Frankfurt. The summer school was titled “Innovative research designs and methods in Asian migration research: Embarking on fieldwork in the 2020s”. This event aimed to offer a platform to jointly discuss methodological challenges, opportunities, and constraints on preparing and conducting research in a digitalizing and pandemic world. QuaMaFA team received over 50 applications, of which we selected 11 to join this workshop.
The participants joined the summer school from various parts of the world, namely Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, Korea, and the United States. Aligned with the theme of this event, the participants presented their methodological concerns and fieldwork challenges, followed by constructive discussions and feedback.
On the second day, there were four roundtable sessions by QuaMaFA members. In these sessions, the following topics were covered: 1) fieldwork during COVID-19, 2) online recruitment of research participants, 3) dealing with the unexpected, 4) positionality of the researcher, and 5) different means of research dissemination. We had discussions on various important ethical and methodological issues in a relaxed and friendly environment.
We are glad that the participants had an informative and productive time during the summer school and benefited from networking with fellow participants and researchers. We wish all the participants success in their academic journey.