Family migration constitutes by far the largest form of entry into countries with established democracies. Yet, it remains widely neglected in the literature on public attitudes. One of the key challenges in researching this topic is its inherent complexity. Family migration involves not only the claims of outsiders seeking entry, but also those of insiders wishing to reunite with family members. To address both dimensions simultaneously, we designed a conjoint survey experiment using an innovative dyadic approach. Respondents were presented with hypothetical cases of aspiring family migrants, alongside their respective family members already residing in the destination country. Key attributes, such as financial resources and types of family relationships, were randomized for each pair. We conducted the survey with 5,000 respondents across France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Our results suggest that respondents pay close attention to the characteristics of the incoming family migrant, such as language skills, while also being concerned with the economic resources of the family member already residing in the destination country. These findings indicate that research on public attitudes cannot treat family reunification as just one among many immigration motives. Study designs must also systematically account for the status of the family member already living in the destination country.

中文翻译：

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揭示对家庭迁移的态度——采用二元方法的联合调查实验


家庭移徙是迄今为止进入民主国家的最大形式。然而，它在关于公众态度的文献中仍然被广泛忽视。研究这个主题的主要挑战之一是其固有的复杂性。家庭迁移不仅涉及寻求入境的外来者的诉求，还涉及希望与家人团聚的内线人。为了同时解决这两个维度，我们使用创新的二元方法设计了一个联合调查实验。向受访者展示了有抱负的家庭移民的假设案例，以及他们各自的家庭成员已经居住在目的地国家。每对的关键属性，如财务资源和家庭关系类型，都是随机的。我们对法国、德国、意大利、瑞典和英国的 5,000 名受访者进行了调查。我们的结果表明，受访者密切关注入境家庭移民的特征，例如语言技能，同时也关注已经居住在目的地国家的家庭成员的经济资源。这些发现表明，对公众态度的研究不能将家庭团聚仅仅视为众多移民动机之一。研究设计还必须系统地考虑已经居住在目的地国家/地区的家庭成员的状态。