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Surveying Immigrant Communities

Policy Imperatives and Technical Challenges

by Julie DaVanzo, Jennifer Hawes-Dawson, R. Burciaga Valdez, Georges Vernez, Christina Andrews, Barbara Levitan, Joyce E. Peterson, Robert F. Schoeni

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To assess the feasibility of a large-scale survey of immigrants, the authors conducted a pilot study, the Los Angeles Community Survey of Salvadorans and Filipinos, in 1991. The results are encouraging: The survey was able to obtain useful information from eleven-year-old census data to target high-concentration sample areas; it successfully recruited and trained bilingual staff; it enlisted respondents' cooperation at acceptable rates; and it elicited responses to sensitive questions, including immigration status, that are critical for developing and assessing policy. The authors conclude that costs for a similar survey conducted in selected sites across the country, though substantial, would be low compared with the potential costs that immigration may impose, or even with the costs of programs intended to address immigration issues. Appendixes contain the survey materials.

Table of Contents

  • Chapter One

    Introduction

  • Chapter Two

    Policy Context and Data Needs for Assessing the Effects of Immigration

  • Chapter Three

    Pilot Survey Development, Procedures, and Staffing

  • Chapter Four

    Lessons Learned from the Pilot Survey

  • Chapter Five

    Can the Data Collected Inform Policy?

  • Chapter Six

    Benefits and Feasibility of a National Immigrant Survey: Lessons from the LACS

  • Appendix

Research conducted by

The project was funded by the Ford Foundation and by the Center for Research on Immigration Policy.

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