Study title

Scotland, United Kingdom

Individual

Methodology:A range of qualitative methods were used, including:Phase 1:1. 50 biographical interviews. The interviews were semi-structured and covered themes such as: socio-economic background and place of origin; life as an LGBT person in the country of origin; motivations to migrate; experiences of migration and settlement; plans for the future.2. 49 sociograms. At the end of the biographical interview, participants were asked to draw a sociogram (a diagram representing their most meaningful social relation); this was discussed in the last part of the interview.2. Phase two: (1) 18 photo diaries; the task involved collating personal pictures (portraying objects, landscapes and people) representing their ideas of ‘home’ into a template provided by the researchers. Participants were free to submit pictures taken especially for the photo diary and/or old pictures. The format is either digital pictures taken on participants' devices or Polaroid pictures (camera provided by res team). (2) 18 follow-up interviews with participants who complete the graphic elicitation tasks above, expanding on the meaning of and stories behind the pictures, and on some matters arising from stage 1 interviews.Studied population: The project focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender migrants living in Scotland and originally from a country in Central Eastern Europe or the former Soviet Union. Countries of origin included Poland, Belarus, Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Russia and Ukraine. Participants' age ranged from 19 to 49. Our sample included 24 women and 25 men (including one female to male transgender man), with one participant identifying as non-binary. Both the FtM trans participant and the non-binary participant identify under the umbrella term transgender. In terms of sexual orientation, 18 participants identify as lesbian, 19 identify as gay men, 12 identify as bisexual; our only non-binary participant identifies as gynosexual. Research participants were based in various locations across Scotland. The majority of them lived in the Central Belt, and most of them were based in Edinburgh (22) and Glasgow (9). However, a substantial number of our participants were based in smaller Scottish cities or in small towns.Sampling procedure: We used a range of strategies to advertise the project and reach out to potential participants. These included:(a) Advertising through a range of voluntary sector organisations and ESOL colleges (including via their newsletters and social media). (b) Online advertising, including posting ads on dating sites (e.g. Gaydar, Planet Romeo) and on social media spaces targeting specific national and language communities in Scotland (e.g. facebook pages such as Latvians in Scotland, Russians in Aberdeen, Polacy w Oban). (c) Leaflets and posters: these were left in specific shops, restaurants, pubs and community spaces (e.g. Polish/Russian/Baltic corner shops and spaces likely to be frequented by CEE/FSU migrants); LGBT and LGBT-friendly clubs, bars and pubs; relevant voluntary sector organisations; and public libraries. (d) Snowballing (‘chain’ referral by other participants)We produced advertising leaflets in a number of CEE/FSU languages and offered to interview participants in their first or preferred language whenever possible. This was done to make participation accessible to a wide range of participants, regardless of fluency in English. We also thought that some participants may be more comfortable talking about very intimate and personal issues in their first language.We offered to interview Polish and Russian-speaking participants in their respective language, as members of the research team speak these languages. In the process of recruitment, speakers of other languages were given the option of being interviewed via an interpreter or in English; however, none requested to be interviewed through an interpreter. The interviews were conducted in Polish (31 participants), Russian (5 participants) or English (14 participants). For more information about methodology and participants' profile see the project report,