Addressing Barriers to Migrant Participation in Research

This “Notes from the Field” article discusses implementation strategies used to increase equity and access to research study participation among migrants. Common barriers to research participation for this population (e.g. language access, informed consent) limit the perspective of migrants within immigrant and refugee health scholarship, reducing the applicability of findings to diverse populations. We aimed to characterize barriers and solutions to migrants’ participation in research. Study participants included asylum-seeking patients at the largest safety net hospital in New England. Two researchers analyzed field notes, reflexivity notes, and standard operating procedure adaptations. Four themes emerged including challenges of conducting qualitative interviews with interpreters, technology literacy, reimbursement woes, and role of the researcher. The goal of the study was to uplift the experience of migrant research participants, describe challenges in the research process, and present recommendations to migrant participation in research. We provide lessons learned for immigrant and refugee health scholars. Keywords: qualitative research, research methods, migrants, minoritized populations, and research ethics