DeMiSo (WP1) Migrant deservingness among the general public

Description

Data were gathered via an online questionnaire from a sample of adults in Belgium. The survey was conducted over a four-week period spanning April and May 2024, culminating in responses from 3,000 participants. Bilendi, a survey firm with a strong presence in Belgium, facilitated data collection, enabling a substantial dataset while managing costs effectively. The sampling process involved drawing from Bilendi's opt-in panel, which comprises 150,000 members, ensuring representativeness across age, gender, education, and region. A cooperation rate of 20% was achieved. Participants were invited via email to participate in a study without disclosing its specific subject. The survey was administered using the survey agency’s proprietary tool, with translations provided in the official languages of the respective Belgian regions (Dutch in Flanders, French in Wallonia, and either Dutch or French in the Brussels Capital Region). In this study, I employed a conjoint experimental design to assess migrant settlement deservingness views. Conjoint experiments are recognized for their ability to determine the causal effect of different components of a treatment (Hainmueller et al., 2014; 2015), with this design notably reducing the required number of participants while maintaining statistical power (Lukac & Stefanelli, 2020). First, respondents were presented with a brief introduction to outline the pairs of fictional asylum seekers they were asked to evaluate: “We would now like to show you the profiles of potential asylum seekers in Europe. You will see two asylum seekers, along with various characteristics about them. We would like to know your opinion on whether you would support sending each applicant back to their country of origin or allowing them to stay in Belgium. In total, we will show you four pairs of comparisons. Please take your time to read the descriptions of each applicant. People have different opinions on this subject, and there are no right or wrong answers.” I manipulated 10 attributes of fictitious asylum seekers. Eight of which were – following a pilot test – operationalized as dimensions of the CARIN criteria, the remaining two were asylum seekers’ age and gender. To capture the control aspect, I included an attribute that highlights the "reason for migration." Migrants' attitudes were assessed through two attributes: "language proficiency" and "local engagement." To reflect the potential for reciprocity, I incorporated an attribute indicating the migrants' current level of “(labor market) activity”. Identity was assessed through attributes for "religious denomination" and "country of origin." Lastly, need was operationalized by considering the "family situation" and potential “vulnerabilities”, such as PTSD or a physical disability. For more information on the data, please contact David De Coninck (david.deconinck@kuleuven.be).

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