The accuracy of migration distance measures
(2017) In Population Space and Place 23(1).- Abstract
- The spatial dimension in the definition of internal migration usually refers to the distance someone has tomove to be regarded as a migrant. Lack of precise data on migration distances, however, has obliged migration researchers to use aggregate distance measures whose accuracy is largely unknown, raising potentially serious validity concerns for research. The aim of this paper is to examine the accuracy of standard aggregate measures of migration distance and to seek practicalmeans for improving their validity. Employing uniquely detailed data where individual migration distances for an entire country’s population have been measured with considerable accuracy, the paper compares variants of aggregate distance measures with the actual... (More)
- The spatial dimension in the definition of internal migration usually refers to the distance someone has tomove to be regarded as a migrant. Lack of precise data on migration distances, however, has obliged migration researchers to use aggregate distance measures whose accuracy is largely unknown, raising potentially serious validity concerns for research. The aim of this paper is to examine the accuracy of standard aggregate measures of migration distance and to seek practicalmeans for improving their validity. Employing uniquely detailed data where individual migration distances for an entire country’s population have been measured with considerable accuracy, the paper compares variants of aggregate distance measures with the actual distance travelled by individual migrants. For the first time, the results shed empirical light on some of the weaknesses of aggregate migration distance measures and, more importantly, also point to their usefulness. The findings show that there is a significant potential to improve the accuracy of migration distance measures; practical suggestions for overcoming the difficulties of using aggregate distance measures are provided. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/5431204
- author
- Niedomysl, Thomas LU ; Ernstsson, Ulf and Fransson, Urban
- organization
- publishing date
- 2017
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Population Space and Place
- volume
- 23
- issue
- 1
- publisher
- John Wiley & Sons Inc.
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:84937053634
- wos:000396379300007
- ISSN
- 1544-8452
- DOI
- 10.1002/psp.1971
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- da02a7da-9aee-43c2-990d-6a533eba5d91 (old id 5431204)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 06:57:19
- date last changed
- 2024-01-11 23:37:32
@article{da02a7da-9aee-43c2-990d-6a533eba5d91,
abstract = {{The spatial dimension in the definition of internal migration usually refers to the distance someone has tomove to be regarded as a migrant. Lack of precise data on migration distances, however, has obliged migration researchers to use aggregate distance measures whose accuracy is largely unknown, raising potentially serious validity concerns for research. The aim of this paper is to examine the accuracy of standard aggregate measures of migration distance and to seek practicalmeans for improving their validity. Employing uniquely detailed data where individual migration distances for an entire country’s population have been measured with considerable accuracy, the paper compares variants of aggregate distance measures with the actual distance travelled by individual migrants. For the first time, the results shed empirical light on some of the weaknesses of aggregate migration distance measures and, more importantly, also point to their usefulness. The findings show that there is a significant potential to improve the accuracy of migration distance measures; practical suggestions for overcoming the difficulties of using aggregate distance measures are provided.}},
author = {{Niedomysl, Thomas and Ernstsson, Ulf and Fransson, Urban}},
issn = {{1544-8452}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
publisher = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
series = {{Population Space and Place}},
title = {{The accuracy of migration distance measures}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/psp.1971}},
doi = {{10.1002/psp.1971}},
volume = {{23}},
year = {{2017}},
}