This is a proposal for an exploratory/developmental research grant (R21) to create and evaluate new and innovative procedures for collecting data from families and households in one area and linking that information to individuals and families who have migrated from that area to other places around the world. This will improve significantly the ability of the research community to include in research projects information about migrants and their sending families and communities. In the past, substantial logistical problems and cost limitations have made it difficult for researchers to link such information in a single project. Our goal is to take advantage of important innovations in international communication technology and the widespread and increasing availability of cell phones and the internet to interview migrants at destinations anywhere in the world and to follow them over time. These new procedures will constitute a significant advance in survey methods that will permit the creation of unbiased data sets that do not ignore migrants who are a selective group and often a significant proportion of any given population. This advance will substantially enhance research capabilities of studies of demographic behaviors such as marriage, childbearing, and health, as well as migration.
