Developing trust among migrant workers: Methodological concerns of establishing trust among research participants

The plight of migrant workers continues to generate widespread interest. Insights into migrant worker experiences within British work places continue to yield perspectives which reflect levels of vulnerability, even occasional abuse, unpleasant conditions, demanding employers, low wages and alleged sharp practice amongst 'agents'. Such accounts appear to present the British workplace to be beset with problems for the migrant worker. Our research aimed to explore the role, experiences and expectations of migrant workers in the construction industry in South Wales and the implications which this has for developing methodological approaches able to provide accurate perspectives from this group which are under represented in research. The aim of this paper is to contribute findings on the methodological challenges associated with gaining access to the workplace experiences of skilled and differently skilled migrant workers. Our work highlights a number of key issues which indicate that exploring the experiences of migrant workers using the idea of trust and considering the individuals relationship with the idea of community enables a more accurate, better informed perspective of working practices to be developed. As this suggests a cognitive centred approach we draw on the idea of a psychological contract to develop a conceptual framework against which these issues can be considered. We argue that utilising these key factors provides an opportunity to reconsider methodological approaches because without a genuinely held sense of trust between researcher and those researched a significant proportion of published reports and other research which aim to reflect the condition of migrant workers in the UK may be flawed in this respect. The implications this may offer for the organisation and management of research into the workplace dynamics of migrant workers are significant. To date little or no empirical insight captures the everyday work related experiences of this diverse employment group.