This thesis has two purposes. The first is to investigate the motivation for household migration - in particular, the associations between the different reasons for moving and the characteristics of owner-occupier movers in Scotland, their houses and the distances they travel. The second is to investigate the extent to which the migration decision is a longitudinal one, and from this longitudinal analysis to highlight the extent of latent migration. Little longitudinal research has previously been carried out on the migration decision. The thesis uses two recent, large-scale and under-utilised data sources to investigate each of these issues. Firstly, the associations with motivations for migration are investigated using the 'Migration and Housing Choice Survey' (MHCS) which contains information from 10,010 households. The advantage of this cross-sectional source lies in its provision of detailed information on motivations at a national level of coverage. The large-scale, national coverage makes it possible to investigate many types of migration flow. This advantage is not shared by any other British research into motivations for migration and only three other data sets elsewhere. Secondly, the extent to which the decision to n-iigrate is part of an on-going process is investigated using the 'British Household Panel Survey' (BBPS). This new and under-exploited source of migration data contains longitudinal information from 10,264 individuals in the first wave and holds approximately this sample size through each of the following four waves. This thesis makes four key contributions to knowledge. The first three are based on the detailed and systematic analysis of the reasons for residential migration behaviour of owner-occupiersin Scotland,u sing the MHCS. Firstly, the reasonsf or moving, as suggestedb y previously small-scaler esearch,h ave been confirmed by this large-scale data set. Secondly, this thesis has extended - and in some cases refuted - the findings of previous researchb y investigatingt he bivariate associationsb etween each of the reasons for moving and each possible explanatory variables (these being characteristicso f migrants, of their home and of the distancest hey move). This has been investigated using much wider selection of reasons for moving and of characteristicsth an hasb eenp reviouslyd one. Thirdly, this thesish as shown that lifecycle stage exerts a considerable amount of influence on the reasons given for moving, whilst still operating in conjunction with other variables, such as distance moved and housing features. The MIHCS can, for the first time, enable research into the connection between the factors influencing migration flows and the factors influencing motivations for migration. Fourthly, this thesis has investigated how migration decisions and preference for migration relate over time, using longitudinal data (the BHPS). This has shown that a considerable amount of latent mobility is present in Britain, and even more importantly, has identified the characteristics of the latent migrants and frequent movers. In addition, this thesis has offered some methodological pointers for future migration research. Overall, the use of these two important but under-utilised data sets, the MECS and the BBPS, have enabled analyses to be undertaken that are unique in the history of nýgration research. V
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:311092 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | Forster, Emma |
| Contributors | McCleery, Alison |
| Publisher | Edinburgh Napier University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/3711 |
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