ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic gave social scientists a unique opportunity to reassess their own epistemological positions with respect to the use of research methods and methodologies. In fact, the convergence of strict measures of confinement, with the availability and familiarity of using different communication technologies, created the context for an unprecedented opportunity to incorporate new – and perhaps unpopular – ways of conducting research during these restrictive times. This chapter examines the challenges, limitations, and opportunities faced in carrying out multi-sited research for the study of return migration during the pandemic. Some key findings suggest that the spatial/temporal scales where/when the social scientist and the informant(s) usually meet establish traditional roles between the two parties restricting a more fluid exchange. In contrast, the use of “new” communication technologies in processes of data collection and analysis may not only transform the said traditional roles but may help problematize the assumptions of that which social scientists have consistently accepted as “good” research.
