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Sampling Tajik Male Migrant Workers in Moscow

*Linda Owens, Survey Research Lab, Univ. of Il 
Stevan Weine, Dept. of Psychiatry, Univ. of Il 

Keywords: migrant, sampling, strategies

This paper will focus on our experience in sampling and recruiting 400 Tajik male migrants who are seasonally employed in Moscow. Because migrant populations differ considerably in country of origin, country of destination, type of employment in the destination country, living conditions in the destination country, and reasons for migration, no single sampling strategy works for all of them. For these reasons, the strategy that was effective in sampling and recruiting Tajik migrants in Russia may not work as well with Mexican migrant workers in the United States or Central European migrants in London. Thus, we will present our experience as just one example of a successful sampling strategy and will include it in a larger review of strategies for sampling different migrant populations. In the end, we will discuss strategies that have been successful and the characteristics of the sampled populations that made those strategies viable.