Using alternative data sources to study rural migration: examples from Illinois

Abstract One of the problems frequently faced by migration researchers is the paucity of national census migration data for small rural areas. Drawing upon a larger, multi‐level research project that focused upon rural poverty migration within Illinois, this article illustrates the opportunities and challenges associated with using community‐based data sources to measure mobility in small rural communities. Use of alternative migration data sources can present opportunities to circumvent common problems with census‐based data sources, including addressing temporal shortfalls, providing custom geographies, and capturing the movement of difficult‐to‐enumerate subpopulations. Alternative data‐sets may also allow researchers to formulate new questions that are more oriented to society's pressing problems. Yet, users of non‐traditional data‐sets also face issues of indirect measurement, data quality, comparability, replication, costs, and moral and ethical concerns. As use of non‐traditional migration data sources increases, researchers will need to become familiar with both the benefits and pitfalls of these data‐sets. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.