Using qualitative mixed methods in migration studies: a case study of asylum seekers fleeing gender-based persecution

Gender-Based Persecution includes harm such as female circumcision, coercive population control, honor killing, domestic violence, rape, forced marriage, and repressive social norms. Feminist legal scholars were among the first to study gender-based persecution and did so by analyzing cases to reveal the legal logic that immigration officials used to grant or deny claims. This chapter outlines a qualitative mixed method approach to studying gender-based asylum claims. The mixed method approach used in this study included interviews, observations of immigration court asylum hearings, and content analysis of asylum applications. The value of using a mixed method approach is that it offers data that illuminates the process of how gender-based asylum claims are adjudicated. I argue that qualitative mixed methods help to paint a broader picture of the dynamics of the asylum process in the U.S. that contribute to understanding why cases are granted or denied. This chapter offers examples of the assumptions about gender-based persecution cases that immigration officials have and how those assumptions affect the outcome of a case.