Foreigners in the town. Experience of voluntary immigrants living in a small town

Catholic University in Ružomberok, Faculty of Education, Department of Social Work, Ružomberok, Slovakia

^* Corresponding author: daniel.markovic@ku.sk

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to unveil the experiences of voluntary immigrants to Slovakia related to their life in a small Slovak town and to identify opportunities for intervention through social work, particularly experience in the field of interpersonal relations, employment or during studies, and in the economic field. In research, we are interested in voluntary migrants who chose small towns in Slovakia, which are culturally and linguistically homogeneous. We have chosen a qualitative research strategy. Research design is grounded theory. As a research tool, we chose an individual structured interview (In-Depth Interview). For qualitative analysis of data, we used the coding; we set descriptive and inductive codes, subcategories and categories. The subject of research is eight voluntary immigrants to Slovakia who live in small towns for at least one year at the time of research. Thus, they meet the long-term migration criterion. Participants were selected on a deliberate basis to cover the phenomenon of voluntary migration. Due to the chosen research design, theoretical sampling is the case.