“What Would You Do If You Were to Win the Lottery?” A Qualitative Tool for Overcoming Agency-Structure Issues in Migration Research

This paper proposes a quasi-standardized hypothetical interview-guide question and demonstrates its applicability in addressing participants’ general life aspirations, and, in particular, the embedded migration aspirations. The proposed interview question is related to the hypothesized behavior of p...

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Main Author: Gergely Horzsa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Lodz University Press 2023-04-01
Series:Qualitative Sociology Review
Subjects:
Online Access:https://czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/qualit/article/view/18056
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author Gergely Horzsa
author_facet Gergely Horzsa
author_sort Gergely Horzsa
collection DOAJ
description This paper proposes a quasi-standardized hypothetical interview-guide question and demonstrates its applicability in addressing participants’ general life aspirations, and, in particular, the embedded migration aspirations. The proposed interview question is related to the hypothesized behavior of participants in the off chance of having won the national lottery. Based on fieldwork results, conducted in rural Hungary between 2014-2019, the paper demonstrates how this question, introduced as a closing question during interviews, may be useful in addressing cultural values and attitudes in an agency-oriented way and with a reduction of perceived structural constraints affecting them. The question was eligible in differentiating between forms of geographical mobility, reflecting some migration-related phenomena that were formerly claimed challenging to be specifically addressed, revealing that pro-migration structural constraints might mask general attitudes to stay among those seemingly opting for emigration, and conversely, structural, restraining-constraints that, in some cases, mask pro-migration attitudes among those seemingly aspiring to stay.
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spelling doaj.art-8759021ddc694e639a9b2763682873272023-05-10T08:57:31ZengLodz University PressQualitative Sociology Review1733-80772023-04-011929211210.18778/1733-8077.19.2.0517805“What Would You Do If You Were to Win the Lottery?” A Qualitative Tool for Overcoming Agency-Structure Issues in Migration ResearchGergely Horzsahttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-2043-0633This paper proposes a quasi-standardized hypothetical interview-guide question and demonstrates its applicability in addressing participants’ general life aspirations, and, in particular, the embedded migration aspirations. The proposed interview question is related to the hypothesized behavior of participants in the off chance of having won the national lottery. Based on fieldwork results, conducted in rural Hungary between 2014-2019, the paper demonstrates how this question, introduced as a closing question during interviews, may be useful in addressing cultural values and attitudes in an agency-oriented way and with a reduction of perceived structural constraints affecting them. The question was eligible in differentiating between forms of geographical mobility, reflecting some migration-related phenomena that were formerly claimed challenging to be specifically addressed, revealing that pro-migration structural constraints might mask general attitudes to stay among those seemingly opting for emigration, and conversely, structural, restraining-constraints that, in some cases, mask pro-migration attitudes among those seemingly aspiring to stay.https://czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/qualit/article/view/18056acquiescent immobilitysemi-structured interviewshypothetical questionsfieldworklife aspirationsmigration aspirationsinternal migrationrural sociology
spellingShingle Gergely Horzsa
“What Would You Do If You Were to Win the Lottery?” A Qualitative Tool for Overcoming Agency-Structure Issues in Migration Research
Qualitative Sociology Review
acquiescent immobility
semi-structured interviews
hypothetical questions
fieldwork
life aspirations
migration aspirations
internal migration
rural sociology
title “What Would You Do If You Were to Win the Lottery?” A Qualitative Tool for Overcoming Agency-Structure Issues in Migration Research
title_full “What Would You Do If You Were to Win the Lottery?” A Qualitative Tool for Overcoming Agency-Structure Issues in Migration Research
title_fullStr “What Would You Do If You Were to Win the Lottery?” A Qualitative Tool for Overcoming Agency-Structure Issues in Migration Research
title_full_unstemmed “What Would You Do If You Were to Win the Lottery?” A Qualitative Tool for Overcoming Agency-Structure Issues in Migration Research
title_short “What Would You Do If You Were to Win the Lottery?” A Qualitative Tool for Overcoming Agency-Structure Issues in Migration Research
title_sort what would you do if you were to win the lottery a qualitative tool for overcoming agency structure issues in migration research
topic acquiescent immobility
semi-structured interviews
hypothetical questions
fieldwork
life aspirations
migration aspirations
internal migration
rural sociology
url https://czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/qualit/article/view/18056
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