Understanding aspirations among Muslim youth in India through Sequential mixed-methods design

This article is a note on the research methods employed during the author’s doctoral research on the topic of aspirations and social mobility in north-India. Looking into the question of employment based aspirations of youth from the minority Muslim community in Delhi, the article employs a mixed-methods approach. The research relies on an older qualitative work by the author in a segregated area in Delhi, on the same themes, to inform the questions of a quantitative study, based on the survey method. The results of the survey are enriched by adding depth and nuance through a follow up qualitative round, employing the life-history method. This article uses the concept ‘frustrated freedom’ developed in the context of Mozambique and Guatemala to analyse the results obtained from the mixed- methods design. The article argues that while aspirations and claims for upward mobility (or agency) of Muslim youth are high, despite consistent socio-economic and political marginalization of the community in India, their ability to achieve these aspirations remains low. This is primarily due to the limited opportunity structures available for them, particularly for the youth living in segregated spaces in Delhi.