Mixed-Methods Study of European Medical Doctors in Germany: Technical Report

This technical report describes the mixed methods data collection of the first in-depth empirical study of intra-EU highly skilled migration in Germany. The target population of our study consists of EU immigrants in Germany who belong to the medical profession. The overall study design is based on a mixed-method sequential explanatory design combining two types of primary data. First, we conducted a quantitative survey with standardized questionnaires among a random sample of EU citizens who immigrated to Germany after 2003 and who belong to the medical profession in Germany. Moreover, we included in this quantitative survey a random sample of German medical doctors for comparative purposes. The standardized questionnaire covered the following topics: migration experiences, motives for emigration and immigration, structural and social integration in the destination country, (life) satisfaction, sense of belonging, national and transnational social ties, and political attitudes and participation. The quantitative data collection ran from September 2015 to May 2016. In total, 1,607 EU physicians and 1,570 German physicians provided eligible responses to our survey. In a second step, we ran a latent class analysis on the migration patterns of the EU physicians measured in the quantitative data in order to construct a typology of intra-European immigrant medical doctors. This typology was then used to design the sample of the subsequent qualitative data collection. In total, 38 semi-structured interviews of the respondents selected were carried out between November 2016 and May 2017. The interviews covered the topics of migration motives and risks, social and structural integration, as well as aspirations for the future.