EL FORTALECEMIENTO DEL ESPIRITU SANTO

The fieldwork process described above yielded a research sample that covers a wide range of socio-demographic characteristics. It is important to note that for 2012 when I conducted my fieldwork, there were no reliable statistical data on Czech- and Slovak-speaking migrants in Glasgow from which a probability sample could have been drawn. The Scottish Census 2011, for example, does not provide detailed data on Slovak or Czech nationals nor on speakers of the two languages. In the absence of census-based population statistics, quantitative data created from the now defunct Workers' Registration Scheme (WRS) for nationals from the A8 countries are often cited. However, WRS data are generally recognised as problematic because not everyone registered, self-employed 'A8 migrants' were not obliged to do so, and because the WRS did not require deregistration upon a person’s move away from a council area. The lack of robust quantitative data on the relevant population can be exemplified by the following, greatly varying figures in different studies: for the period between May 2004 and April 2011, a study by McCollum et al. (2012, p. 15) found that 10,905 'A8 migrants' registered with the scheme in Glasgow. An earlier study commissioned by Glasgow City Council reported disaggregated data by nationality from WRS 2006 data (Blake Stevenson 2007, p. 17) showing that among 3,136 registrations 376 were by Slovak nationals and 213 by Czech nationals, but cautioned against these figures as underestimating the actual size of this population. A remarkably different figure is provided in a report by Adamova et al., published in 2007, which estimated for one area of Glasgow alone a population of 2,000-3,000 Slovakian and Czech Roma.

Thus, constructing a sampling frame for probability sampling was not possible nor was it the aim here. For the purposes of this study, the question of numbers was not a central concern as the research aims were not orientated towards producing statistical generalisations. Instead, in line with my research focus on understanding Slovak- and Czech-speaking migrants' everyday experiences, I employed a theoretical sampling technique which aimed to develop theoretically generalisable concepts through an intensive, interpretive engagement with the empirical data (Creswell 2003, pp. 125-128). My focus was on including a diverse research group, which corresponds to the significance of range and heterogeneity in ethnographic (and generally in qualitative) research. Therefore, this study does not claim the research sample to

be representative of the Slovak- and Czech-speaking migrant population in Glasgow or the UK.

From the many people I encountered during the fieldwork, 28 became key informants. They were 14 women and 14 men aged between 24 and 54 years, living in different parts of Glasgow, and included single, married, divorced, widowed persons and individuals living with their partners, with their partners and children, or single parents. Of those 28 individuals, 10 were Czech speakers, while 18 were Slovak speakers. Amongst this group, seven informants self-identified as Roma. In terms of occupations, the key informants held varying jobs such as housekeepers in hotels, factory workers, project workers in the third sector, interpreters, agency workers/temps, kitchen porters, car washers, etc., both self-employed and employed, as well as students who worked alongside their studies and people with multiple jobs. The sample also includes people who were not in employment. Educational background also varied greatly amongst the research informants, ranging from those who had finished secondary education, individuals who had acquired vocational trainings to those who had completed university or postgraduate degrees. Regarding further and higher education, there were individuals who had also studied (or were, at the time of my fieldwork, studying) in Scotland. Although I focused my recruitment of participants on those individuals who had come to Scotland/UK in or after 2004, i.e. following Slovakia's and the Czech Republic's accession to the European Union, which enabled citizens of these countries to access the UK labour market, it is worth noting here that not all Slovak- and Czech-speaking migrants living in Glasgow shared this specific migration history. During my fieldwork I came across Czech and Slovak speakers who had arrived in Scotland well before 2004, for example, either as asylum seekers38 or through the au pair migration route. A table containing more detailed socio-demographic and additional information about the key informants is provided in Appendix A.

Additionally, there were about 30 people who I met rather fleetingly during the fieldwork whose stories I got to know to some extent but whose everyday lives I did not follow; this refers to persons who I met, for example, through volunteering at Groundworks, working at

38 _{This included mainly individuals and their families who had experienced persecution in their countries of}

origin due to being singled out as Roma. They had been relocated to Glasgow as part of the dispersal policy set out in the 1999 Immigration and Asylum Act.

the drop-in, or at one-off events. Complementing the key informants and others are nine individuals with whom I conducted expert or ethnographic interviews due to their professional involvement in the field. This included persons working in different positions such as legal assistant, community worker, and employability adviser in four Glasgow-based third sector organisations with a Slovak- and Czech-speaking client base. Interview questions revolved around the nature of their work and services offered, their evaluations of difficulties and problems faced by Czech- and Slovak-speaking migrants in Glasgow, and their view on how these migrants dealt with these issues. Some of these individuals were chosen for the importance that key informants afforded them, others I selected in the course of the fieldwork in order to cover emerging aspects such as employment and legal problems.