The rapidly growing field of “Migration Studies” is still grappling with various conceptual and methodological challenges. Pervasive across these are how best to conduct research “with” rather than “on” migrants as its primary object of study. Though it is frequently emphasized that alternative framings in knowledge production based on the lived experiences of migrants are vital in migration research, many scholars highlight how their voices continue to remain at the margins. If such perspectives continue to be sidelined, while maintaining that they are essential for necessary changes to how migration research is conducted, then researchers need to reflect on how they can operationalize methodologies that enable more meaningful engagement with migrants in practice. Drawing on a decade of experience working directly with and alongside migrants in diverse settings, this paper reflects on the convergence of academia and practice. We emphasize that a participatory approach, when holistically applied in conducting empirical research with migrants, can better enable researchers to transcend many common challenges, provide a space for knowledge co-production, and often result in more ethical and quality research overall. The most crucial aspect for researchers to consider is how the participatory approach is both conceptualized and subsequently applied in practice. Participatory research does not necessarily need to be considered as a novel or standalone method as such but as a way to approach research that can underpin or be embedded into a multitude of migration research projects and designs, often complementing other methodologies.

中文翻译：

---

移民研究中参与的力量和知识的共同生产：对方法的批判性思考


快速发展的“移民研究”领域仍在努力应对各种概念和方法上的挑战。在这些研究中，普遍存在的是如何最好地以“以”而不是“以”移民为主要研究对象进行研究。尽管人们经常强调，在移民研究中，基于移民生活经历的知识生产中的替代框架至关重要，但许多学者强调他们的声音如何继续处于边缘地位。如果这些观点继续被边缘化，同时坚持认为它们对于改变移民研究的进行方式至关重要，那么研究人员需要反思他们如何实施方法，以便在实践中与移民进行更有意义的接触。本文借鉴了十年在不同环境中直接与移民合作的经验，反映了学术界和实践的融合。我们强调，在对移民进行实证研究时，全面采用参与式方法，可以更好地使研究人员超越许多共同的挑战，为知识共同生产提供空间，并往往导致整体上更合乎道德和质量的研究。研究人员需要考虑的最关键方面是参与式方法如何概念化并随后在实践中应用。参与式研究不一定需要被视为一种新颖或独立的方法，而是作为一种可以支持或嵌入众多移民研究项目和设计的研究方式，通常与其他方法相辅相成。