When selecting a research site, many factors should be considered. Accessing migrant children in institutional settings can be difficult. According to Ennew et al ((2009, p. 2.6) “information about vulnerable children, such as migrant children, may be kept secret or some adults who work with children may not want to attract the attention of outsiders”. Corsaro and Molinary (2008) also pointed out that adult gatekeepers have varying degree of control over the activities of children and access to the research site. This means that researchers must gain the cooperation of a range of different gatekeepers, such as principals before having access to discuss the research directly with migrant children.
Taking all these factors into account, at pre-field work stage, I had decided to use Benxi, a medium-sized city in Liaoning Province, as my research site since my sister is a teacher in a local primary school there and it is my hometown as well. This could potentially help me to access the participants. However, I found out that there were few migrant families willing to
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participate in the research after arriving in Benxi. After careful reconsideration about the situation and discussion with my two sisters and friends, I changed to Shenyang as my research site. Shenyang is a suitable research site because Shenyang is the capital and largest city of Liaoning Province and is, as mentioned, the transport and commercial center in northeast China. Therefore, Shenyang has attracted migrants from surrounding regions: approximately 11% of Shenyang’s population is migrants in 2006 (National Bureau of Statistics, 2006). Another reason for choosing this site was because one of my sister’s friends works at a local primary school. This helped me to gain the trust from teachers and parents in the school and get access to the target groups.
In the public school in China, migrant children join in different grades or classrooms based on their academic level. With the help of my sister’s friend, I got the opportunity to give the detailed research plans to two more teachers. After my explanation, I gained permission to conduct the research in their classes, which fits my purpose of recruiting participants from different ages. I thus ended up with doing research in Grade one, Grade four and Grade five.
4.3.1 Research location
When designing a research project, it is important to remember that the research location might affect what children will talk about (Backett-Milburn & McKie, 1999). Two places were used in conducting research with children: schools and homes. Although generating data at schools was more efficient than at homes, different problems emerged when doing research with children in a school setting. In the beginning, I used the classroom as the interview place due to the crowded staff rooms and corridor. However, the teachers were always sitting in the classroom correcting students’ homework. I felt very embarrassed to ask them to leave. Moreover, I was fully aware that children perceived me as a teacher and felt pressured to give their answers to my research questions. Thus, it was very difficult for children to express their views freely inside the class room. After having reassured the children that unlike homework, there were no right or wrong answers for the research questions, and that their opinions were the only requirement since they are the experts in their own life, I asked the children to decide where they wanted to conduct the interviews. The schoolyard was their choice. It supported children to change their mood from study to physical exercises or activities and at the same time gave children some control over the environment. Inside the classroom Chinese children are disciplined: they have to sit properly and
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use inside voice, and only talk when they are called. In the schoolyard, however, they are running, shouting, and playing. I personally experienced this big difference. Therefore, by letting children select an appropriate place, children are empowered to express their perspectives in school settings.
Using children’s home as a location can empower children since the home is considered as a personal and familiar space for them on the one hand, on the other hand researchers can enrich the data by observing the family’s living condition and things happening during the visit. However, when conducting research with migrant children at their homes, I also encountered different challenges. Finding a private and quiet space at the home was problematic due to the financial restrictions of migrant families (see confidentiality, privacy and protection Issues section). Some parents insisted on being present during meetings with migrant children and even interfered in the research process since “they do not see a problem about staying to listen and even some parents think it is polite to stay” (Alderson & Morrow, 2011, p. 38) In this case, I could do little to limit the parents’ involvement in the interviews.
Household visit needs making pre-arrangements. Migrant families have been facing difficult situations. Some migrant parents were in the stage of finding a job, losing employment or having health issues. They were often under pressure to struggle with different tasks. Bearing this in mind, there is no wonder that some of the migrant parents were quite busy and rescheduled the appointments several times. One parent forgot the arranged appointments and she was leaving when I arrived at her home. Thus, unfortunately, I ended up only visiting two migrant children’s homes during the fieldwork.