PROMINSTAT

Resumo

"With the Amsterdam Treaty and the increasing competence of the European Union in the field of migration, integration, anti-discrimination and asylum, the need for comparative data in this area has been increasingly recognized. Social scientists, on the other hand, have a much broader agenda for comparative research, which goes beyond the immediate needs of policy makers and requires much more sophisticated data as well as knowledge about datasets that might be used for comparative research purposes. The objective of the project is to promote comparative quantitative research in the field of migration and integration. It will do so in three respects: - First, an online accessible database will be set up by expanding and refining an exist-ing database developed in an earlier project, containing essential technical information on statistical datasets in 27 European countries as well as the variables included in these dataset. - Second, national data collection systems will be systematically described in the form of brief country reports, which will provide essential contextual information necessary to understand statistical data in the area of migration and integration more generally. - Third, thematic studies will explore the possibilities and the potential limitations for conducting research in a number of different thematic areas in the broader field of mi-gration and integration of immigrants based on an evaluation of the datasets included in the database. Through the thematic studies, the online portal will serve as a platform for the discussion of fundamental methodological problems in this field as well as a tool for dissemination of project result. The project strategic objectives can be summarised as follows: - To reduce the manifold difficulties social scientists are confronted with when identify-ing suitable and comparable data or data definitions for empirical cross-country analy-sis in the field of migration and integration. - To promote and enhance quantitative research in the area of migration and integration by providing easily accessible information on the data needed for quantitative research in the field of migration and integration. - To provide important contextual information needed to assess the quality and nature of the data for all 27 European countries covered by the project - To discuss methodological issues arising when working with statistical data of varying quality in different degrees of comparability and different scope within the larger field of migration and integration, and - To analyse the availability, comparability and scope of data in respect to selected im-portant thematic areas - To contribute to the improvement of the quality of data collection systems in the EU countries and provide policy-makers with concrete recommendations for the im-provement of data collection in Europe - To contribute to the development of new and to the evaluation of compliance with ex-isting standards in regard to the collection of statistical data in the field of migration and integration.