« Migration studies: categorization, objectivity, and research impact »

International audienceThis paper gathers together three methodological insights from my doctoral research. I work on highly-skilled Moroccan entrepreneurs who studied in France and subsequently became entrepreneurs either in France or in Morocco. I carry out qualitative research and I conducted about 40 biographical interviews with Moroccan entrepreneurs and executives. The present paper discusses three methodological issues. The first concerns the process of categorization. Due to the legal insecurity associated to the status of international student in France, some of my interviewees were both highly-skilled migrants and irregular migrants (or at risk to become irregular). None of the categorizations is neutral as political discourses use to praise the highly-skilled and to fight against irregular migrants. The second issue concerns objectivity and the researchers’ positioning. Being myself an international student, how should I strike a balance in research between involvement and detachment, to use Elias (1956) words? The third issue concerns the research impact. Usually, researchers are pressed to produce knowledge that contributes to, benefits and influences society, politics and so on. What is the impact of the research on irregular migrants and who should it benefit to