The research is based on the qualitative interpretivist theoretical approach. The approach’s constructive ontology emphasises that realities are created and recreated by the social actors inhabiting them, by attributing values to the different social actions (Weber 1962). The participants are such actors; they (re)create and interpret the realities they live in. When attempting to build their concept of integration, their way of thinking is shaped by their physical and mental existence, which manifests itself in their expectations, experiences, perceptions, and reflections. The ontology of interpretivism can be decoded by its
epistemological position, which is that of an ‘insider’. In practice, such a position entails that the researcher collects meanings of everyday life by ‘entering the everyday social world’ (Blaikie 1993) of the participants. As the research accords great importance to the
participants’ interpretations and understandings of social actions (integration being one), I believe the approach of interpretivism is commensurate with the aims of the project. Prior and parallel to the data collection phase, the integration literature, central government publications and reports, related national and supranational (EU) legislation, and theme- specific scholarly publications were studied, mostly in on-line (journal articles, reports, laws) or hard copy forms (books, other published material). This contributed to critically
positioning the project and its findings in the wider integration literature, whilst bearing in mind the socio-economic, political, and historical contexts impacting integration
policymaking in the UK.
To gain sufficient quality data, 30 female migrants were interviewed. Although it would have been interesting and useful to collect voices of male migrants and compare them with female opinions and perceptions, lack of time and funding constrained the scope of this research to examining only women. Interviewees were recruited based on the method of purposive sampling, to ensure that the chosen participants fit the predetermined social categories of gender, country of origin, age, education and qualifications, length of stay in the UK and profession. The planned range of interviewees was intended to fit into categories differentiated by route of migration (the varied forms of entry should be more or less equally represented), length of stay (approximately one third of the interviewees having resided in the UK for less than 5 years, another one third between 5 and 15 years, and the remaining third for more than 15 years), and professions (e.g. doctors, ICT specialists,
financial/creative industry workers should be equally represented). The recruitment technique was snowballing from various sources, including personal acquaintances from university, sports activities, book and other clubs, and further acquaintances of the participants already identified.
Data was collected through open-ended semi-structured interviews. This has several advantages, the main one being flexibility. It allows the interviewees to express their subjective views on a topic freely, without the risk that the interviews become unbounded (Flick 2009). The data collected was analysed using the qualitative research software NVivo 10. First, the data was content analysed to identify the main codes, being the main factors related to the conceptualisation of the notion of integration. This coding process would hopefully also designate those skills and factors which have a role in the construction of the integration concept. During a second stage of analysis, the interviews were fragmented and rearranged part by part according to these codes. At this stage I aimed to capture recurring themes and practices. These two phases are based to a certain degree on grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin 1990). At a third and final stage, themes were separately studied, and findings were juxtaposed with findings from the relevant literature.
The research involved women who were born in India. This criterion creates delimitation according to the nation-state border, and by no means according to other distinguishing factors such as culture, ethnicity, language, etc. Participants’ ethnic affiliation was not particularly explored in the research, except where it could not be avoided. The main reason for this was that even though participants came from the same country, they had differing ethnic backgrounds, which is not surprising, given India’s vast and composite nature. The fact that participants had differing cultural and ethnic backgrounds from mine as researcher was expected to have some implications for the research. Although I shared some
specificities with the interviewees, such as being a woman, highly educated, and living in the UK, I might have encountered differences as an ‘outsider’, which might have affected understanding. This could be viewed as a potential shortcoming; nevertheless, it can be helpful in dismantling assumptions or taken-for-granted ideas shared by ‘insiders’ (Dwyer & Buckle 2009). Therefore, I attempted to remain reflexive throughout the data collection and analysis phases, as constantly operating with a reflexive state of mind would hopefully avoid potential misunderstandings based on inferences and false knowledge (Merriam et al. 2001). Given the small number of participants, the qualitative approach to the research and the sampling technique, the project does not claim to represent the perceptions of all highly educated migrant women in the UK. However, despite the limited generalisability of the findings, it can still be of importance at a larger scale, as well. Especially, as it aims to shed light on the views on integration of highly educated women migrants, which is a significant and ever growing group among the UK’s migrant population. In addition, by carrying out a qualitative study with in-depth interviews, deeper and richer individual data can emerge than by using quantitative research methods.