Diversity-Related Research in Times of Covid-19: Moving a Mixed Methods Project Online

The present research project aims to reconcile minority and mobility research through connecting their points of view and research approaches; by doing so, it hopes to overcome existing dichotomies. The aim of the project is a comparative analysis of the applicability of existing protection mechanisms constructed for national minorities to "new" migrant minorities. First, areas in international agreements on the protection of minorities (e.g. Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities) that could also be relevant for migrant minorities (e.g. language protection measures) have been identified: In a second step, a quantitative survey and qualitative expert interviews will be conducted to find out whether "new" minorities consider such protection measures desirable and recommendable at all. To this end, the three largest and/or most important migrant groups in South Tyrol, Trentino and Tyrol (united across borders by the European Region as a common entity sharing history and values) will be analyzed regarding their wishes, desires, claims and ideas. Comparing regions where “old” minorities are present with territories without national minorities will also allow us to look at awareness-raising processes about minorities and minority rights. Data collection will be completed in March-April 2021. Originally planned as a purely "offline" project, Covid-19 has rendered it necessary to move our project to a purely online form (or at least this is likely at the time of writing this abstract, when new stronger lockdowns are being put in place all over Europe). The main methodological challenge is accessibility of the target group, especially the older migrant population, who tend not to have as much access to information technology also due to socio-economic constraints, connecting to the matter of inequality presented in the first paper. Additionally, events where interviewers might have gotten a large number of survey respondents (such as religious or cultural celebrations) are now prohibited due to anti-Covid-19 safety measures, rendering field access even more difficult.