Abstract

Using Portes’ critique of research that ‘samples on the dependent variable’, this article identifies three particularly widespread and inter-related examples of this tendency within research on displacement, and particularly within the growing field of literature on refugee self-reliance. The first concerns the tendency to sample those in possession of particular labels; the second to sample those who inhabit specific spaces; and the third to sample those who exhibit certain forms of vulnerability. The article introduces the stories of displaced Eritreans in the Gulf States to show how these tendencies have resulted in particular sites and experiences of self-reliance being difficult to analyse, and thus systematically overlooked, within refugee studies. It concludes by arguing that categorical, spatial, and vulnerability biases within research on forced migrants can lead to a general confirmation bias that ends up inadvertently narrowing the meaning of key concepts and processes, and obscuring similar actions, including those with more positive outcomes, that may be occurring outside of established ‘host countries’ and under alternative labels.

中文翻译：

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因变量抽样：位移研究的致命弱点？

摘要

利用波特斯对“因变量样本”研究的批评，本文确定了在关于流离失所的研究中，特别是在不断增长的关于难民自力更生的文献领域中，这种趋势的三个特别普遍和相互关联的例子。第一个涉及对拥有特定标签的人进行抽样的趋势；第二个是对居住在特定空间的人进行抽样；第三个是对那些表现出某种形式的脆弱性的人进行抽样。文章介绍了海湾国家流离失所的厄立特里亚人的故事，以展示这些趋势如何导致特定地点和自力更生经历在难民研究中难以分析，从而被系统地忽视。最后，它认为分类的、空间的、