Sampling and surveying hard-to-reach populations for demographic research: A study of female labor migrants in Moscow, Russia

Because household-based survey designs are notoriously ineffective in studying hard-to-reach groups such as irregular migrants, these groups, however numerically large they may be, are rarely represented in demographic analyses. In this article, we report on the application of a workplace-based stratified probability sampling design (a variant of the time-location sampling approach), response rate, and item-specific refusals in a study of irregular female migrants from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan working in bazaars, eateries, and small retail outlets in Moscow, Russia. We argue that the workplace-based survey approach, while not flawless, provides a uniquely feasible and cost-effective tool for studying irregular migrants and similar hard-to-reach populations in metropolitan settings.