Our interest in this research is to obtain empirical data that provide insights in the influence and role of transnational networks regarding economic activities of urban actors. This requires the collection of quantitative data on flows within transnational relationships of urban actors with migrants, and also data on flows between urban actors and their alters in Accra and elsewhere in Ghana. However, to understand the extent of transnational influences, we seek to gain insight in the processes that led to the transactions, and the role of the institutional and network embedding of these. For such insights a more qualitative, in-depth approach is necessary. For this, we consider a case studies approach most appropriate.
First, as outlined in various publications (‘t Hart et al 2001; Verschuren and Doorewaard 2000; Yin 1994), a case studies approach is most suited for examining explorative “how” questions. With reference to our research, it allows us to explore how transnational exchanges come about, how these exchanges are embedded in prior exchanges, how institutions guide these exchanges and, finally, how these influences are specifically oriented towards the urban eco- nomy. Second, a case studies approach is also well suited for research that focuses on the present, rather than the past, as it enables researchers to engage with actors and discuss their present activities, perceptions, etc., through in-depth approaches. In historical research such dialogue is not possible. Third, a case study approach is suitable in situations where researchers have little control over or influence in the conditions that affect the occurrence of the events studied, which is in contrast to experimental, laboratory-based approaches (Yin 1994). Finally, a case study approach is appropriate if the data to be collected are sensitive or controversial in nature. The open, multiple-visit and informal nature of the methods used in case studies helps to establish the trust of respondents in the research and researchers.
Given that our research interests meet these conditions, the relevance of a case studies approach is clear. Hence, during one and a half years of fieldwork, we
45 collected qualitative data on transnational relationships of urban actors with migrants and explored the meaning of these relationships. Contemporaneously, we also engaged respondents in quantitative studies which examined their trans- actions with alters (including migrants) in a range of themes.
Especially through the qualitative methods we used, such as thematic, semi- structured interviews, and participant observations, but more generally through our repeated visits, we gained the trust of our respondents. This trust was crucial if we intended to learn about respondents’ lives and the role of migrants therein. In addition, even though migrants in Amsterdam had given their explicit per- mission, if we could establish trusted relationships with respondents, this could reinforce their belief that our research would not endanger the position of migrants to whom they related. The importance of trust was obviously a condi- tion for a few respondents who were initially disinclined to participate as they had not received a signal from migrants that their participation in the research had the migrants’ consent. Perceiving such issues, let alone gaining the trust and interest of respondents to provide information on the role of migrants in their lives, would not have been possible based on a one-moment survey. Our case study approach, however, enabled us to accommodate such initial difficulties and, so, over the course of time gain the trust of the respondents.
Our case study approach
As we mentioned above, at the Ghana TransNet programme level transnational networks formed our empirical starting point. At the level of our own research project the focus was on how the transnational ties between urban actors and migrants influence Accra’s economy. To study this influence, we took Accra- based respondents who belonged to migrants’ transnational networks as our starting point. As we explained above, these migrants were selected from a larger initial research population to represent a maximum variation in personal and network characteristics. Thus, the respondents in Accra formed embedded case studies within case studies of transnational networks. Due to our selection approach the research population in terms of their individual or network characteristics does not claim to reflect the diversity of Accra’s population. This was not our focus, anyhow, but had it been our intention we could not have achieved this since our research population was too small. Thus, had this been our focus we would have taken a city-wide survey. Even so, in the next chapter we will show that both in their networks and their personal characteristics our research population was quite heterogeneous.
Below, we discuss our field research efforts. We divided our field research into two periods. The first field research period of two months was exploratory in nature. The second period had a duration of fifteen months, and concentrated on
46
the case studies. Below, we describe these research periods in more detail, focusing on the main objectives and on the research tools employed. We describe these tools in detail in a later section in this chapter.
First field research: Exploring economic dimensions of transnational influences The main objective of the first fieldwork period was to explore theoretical understandings derived from literature research and discussions with fellow researchers and key informants. The aim was to establish that our assessment was complete and accurate regarding which institutions and economic themes were most relevant in order to understand the influence of transnational networks on local economic activities. Further objectives of the first field research were to test the methodologies we intended to use in the main field research and to develop a set of criteria to determine the final selection of respondents.
To achieve these objectives we visited a number of neighbourhoods, primarily residential and business areas of Accra which local researchers and informants had indicated as primary locations of migrant related activities. In these neighbourhoods we spoke with returnee migrants, local relations of migrants, and with other informants concerning the influence of migrants in the economy of Accra. We interviewed managers of migrant businesses but also to migrant owners themselves; we visited houses owned by migrants, both finished and under construction, in order to speak with migrants and local alters who cared for or supervised the construction of these houses. During this period we also participated in social-cultural activities such as church services, funerals and Christmas gatherings, and we spoke with church leaders to assess what role migrants played for local churches and vice versa. Through these activities, we were able to establish the span of economic activities influenced by migrants and also which local actors were involved with migrants. The tools we used in the first field research were the following:
• Semi-structured and informal interviews with respondents and informants on the role of migrants in local economic activities
• Transsects of neighbourhoods to make a first quantitative assessment of the kinds of activities involving migrants
• Participant observation of migrants and Accra-based alters of migrants
• Pilot study of the name generator questionnaire
Based on our first field research, we concluded that there are differences between neighbourhoods in terms of the concentration of migrant investments and forms of support migrants give to urban actors in these neighbourhoods. The outskirts of the city, for instance, are an endless sprawl of sub-urban houses that have mainly been built with migrant capital and, thus, exhibit a high influence of
47 migrants. In the inner city we found concentrations of business activities on which migrants had influence. Given these concentrations, it was important for us not to focus on one or two cases of neighbourhoods as this might have given us insights in only some of the influences migrants have on the local economy. Furthermore, such a focus would have failed to see the connectedness of these activities. Activities in one neighbourhood could be related to those in another neighbourhood; urban actors are often involved in a range of activities, which take them all over the city and are, thus, seldom confined to merely one neighbourhood. This is even more so when urban actors become involved with economic activities of migrants in the city. These important insights led us to conclude that a city-wide approach is more adequate in this research than one focusing on one or two neighbourhoods, although this would have been easier to perform.
Upon return to The Netherlands we compared our findings with those of the Amsterdam and Ashanti Region research projects to assess the relative impor- tance of the various economic domains (themes) in transnational exchanges and to discuss the kinds of relationships and institutions that related to these. This allowed us to make some adjustments to the tools that we intended to employ in the second field research.
Second field research: Case studies of Accra-based respondents
During this field research period, our research predominantly concentrated on individual respondents, who formed embedded cases within transnational net- works of Ghanaian migrants in Amsterdam.
Second, as this research seeks to understand local economic behaviour of actors embedded in transnational networks, it was necessary to continually exchange insights and analyses on field findings with the researchers of the other two research projects in Amsterdam and the Ashanti Region. This related to specific situations of economic activities or exchanges between individuals in two and sometimes all three locations. These exchanges might also provide additional insights for the other two researchers in their own research. To achieve such exchanges it was agreed that at programme level we would regularly exchange information and short analyses on important changes in the lives of respondents. This might be about crises, but could also be news of a migrant travelling from Amsterdam to Accra. These exchanges were augmented with two visits by the Amsterdam-based researcher to Ghana during the second field research period. Furthermore, two other members of the supervising team visited Ghana during the second field research and raised pertinent issues to be addressed in consequent field research. Local researchers and informants with
48
whom we discussed the progress of the research also played important advisory roles.
In the first weeks of the second field research few contacts could be established with Accra alters of migrants and, instead, we devoted our time to the selection of a local research team with whom to conduct the research. Following the advice of colleagues at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), University of Ghana, we selected two students (male and female) as research assistants. They had completed their Bachelor’s Degree in social sciences and had prior experiences with urban field research. Their primary role was to ensure that with every respondent of the research population transaction studies were conducted on a monthly basis. This would enable the principal researcher to focus on the more explorative, less structured research tools. Prior to this division of tasks, the assistants received elaborate training in the correct and complete entry of responses to transaction study questionnaires and other data into an Access database. Before the assistants arranged and conducted independent sessions with a respondent, we would visit the respondent together, usually using this occasion to complete a first monthly transaction study.
After a few months we had established regular contact with a final research population of 38 respondents. Due to the sensitivity of migration-related re- search, which called for elaborate interaction with migrants in Amsterdam, it had not been possible to identify all our respondents in the first two months as we had intended.
In previous sections we discussed how respondents were selected, and in this section we focus on the procedure that was followed once we received information on new respondents from the researcher in Amsterdam. Following the agreement of a migrant in Amsterdam to participate in the research, the Amsterdam-based researcher would request information on alters in Ghana. The information on each Accra-based respondent usually consisted of the name, their contact details and a brief summary of the migrant’s relationship with the prospective respondent. Contact details were often limited to a mobile telephone number or a local (‘landline’) telephone number, and the neighbourhood in which the person resided. It might be the case that the telephone number provided was not the respondent’s; it could be neighbour’s, or of a local communication centre that the respondent used for receiving or making phone calls. In such instances, it required much persistence to ensure that the operator recalled who the person was we wanted to reach, and, thereafter, try and find the person. Sometimes we would be asked to locate the communication centre first and then ask local people for directions to reach the respondent’s house or work place.
49 In other instances, we did speak to the respondent directly, but encountered problems in locating the person’s residence. Learning by doing, soon led us to agree with new respondents that we would meet them at a locally well-known ‘spot’, from where the respondent could guide us to his/her house for further visits.
Map 3.1 Geographical spread of respondents across greater Accra
As a research project team we held weekly meetings to discuss our progress and issues that had arisen, and to exchange schedules for upcoming meetings with respondents. The discussion of the latter ensured that respondents were not asked to participate in more than one research activity within a short span of time, which was an issue for some respondents. Consequently, we sometimes had to decide which research tool had first priority, especially if we had been unable to meet the respondent for a while. The team meetings also provided an opportunity to triangulate information from meetings with respondents that might require attention and follow-up questions in subsequent meetings. Thus, a respondent might mention in a semi-structured discussion that he had lost his aunt and that he would be one of the main organisers of her funeral. In sub-
50
sequent transaction studies the assistant working with this respondent would then use this information to ask whether the respondent had become involved in transactions relating to this event. Tools we employed in the second field research were:
• Name generator questionnaire including a network density analysis
• Monthly transaction studies
• Thematic semi-structured/open interviews on a range of economic themes, e.g. housing, social security, funerals, education
• Participant observation at funerals, church services, respondents’ workplaces, respondents’ homes, house construction sites
• Life histories with particular attention to important moments in the lives of respondents and the role of migrants and other alters at these moments