Our Research Project

Our team has been conducting qualitative and quantitative research on the field since 2007. The first stage of the research focuses on learning more about the migrant families, and the second stage focuses on program evaluation for the intervention programs.

Partnering with 10 migrant middle schools, we have collected more than 2,000 completed questionnaires from migrant middle school students. The survey covers students' family backgrounds, migration histories, social networks, learning motivation, career planning and aspirations, resilience and social skills, and other areas.

We have also conducted in-depth interviews with more than 80 migrant middle school students and their parents. Other types of data collection are in progress, including the longitudinal tracking of students' enrolment and follow-up studies of students who choose to return to their hometowns for further studies.

Research Goals

Research plays an indispensable role in our action research project for migrant youths. Our research work has two objectives:

  1. Understanding the Issues (Need Assessment)
    • to provide in-depth background information and objective evaluation necessary for building actionable, sustainable and scalable service models that serve migrant youth, and 
    • to identify and fill in existing gaps in the knowledge landscape that are critical to long-term changes that would benefit migrant youth and the society. 
  2. Model Development (Program Evaluation)
    • Through effective program evaluation, research provides the basis for the initial design and subsequent refinement of evidence-based pilot intervention programs, from which the eventual model emphasizing "actionability, sustainability and scalability" are developed.

Research Projects

  1. "Need Assessment" Research Projects
    • Basic Need Assessment: Understanding the need of migrant students in Chinese cities
    • Student Attrition Study: Movement of migrant students in and out of urban schools
    • Returnees Study: Understanding the adaptation and opportunities of migrant students who return to their hometowns
  2. "Program Evaluation" Research Projects
    • Quantitative / qualitative evaluation of the Resilience and Path-Finding Program
    • Quantitative / qualitative evaluation of the Mentoring Program
    • Quantitative evaluation of the Financial Asset Building Program (randomized experimental approach)
    • Qualitative evaluation of the University Social Work Internship Program
    • Qualitative evaluation of the Train-the-Trainers Program