Research areas
Learn about the research areas that guide the Building a New Life in Australia (BNLA) study.
On this page:
- Demographics
- Housing
- Language proficiency
- Education
- Employment and income
- Pre-migration experiences
- Health
- Self-sufficiency
- Community support
- Life satisfaction
- Perceptions of life in Australia
The study has 3 main broad research questions that guide the study:
- What are the settlement outcomes of humanitarian migrants?
- How does access to and use of government and nongovernment services and welfare benefits contribute to humanitarian migrants’ successful settlement?
- Do the settlement experiences and outcomes of humanitarian migrants vary according to the differing migration pathways taken?
The study goes more in-depth in the following research areas.
Demographics
- Age
- Gender
- Country of birth
- Marital status
Housing
- Assistance in finding housing
- Number of times moved home
- Tenure type
- Quality of housing
- Number of bedrooms
- Neighbourhood characteristics
Language proficiency
- Languages spoken at home
- English language proficiency
- Attendance of English language classes
- Helpfulness and use of interpreting services
Education
- Highest level of education achieved
- Currently engaged in education and training
- Educational aspirations
- Qualifications gained prior to arrival in Australia
- Whether previous qualifications have been recognised in Australia
Employment and income
- Current employment status
- Prior occupation and work experience before coming to Australia
- Experience of unemployment in Australia
- Income and government benefits received
- Savings
- Remittances
- Financial hardship
Pre-migration experiences
- Countries lived in prior to arrival in Australia
- Potentially traumatic events experienced
- Time spent and services offered in:
- refugee camps
- Australian detention centres
- community detention.
- Reasons for migrating to Australia
Health
- Physical and mental health
- Life stressors
- Professional help for emotional problems
Self-sufficiency
- Performing daily life tasks
- Access to services and transport
- Barriers to service use
Community support
- Support received from national, religious and other community groups
- Involvement in community activities
- Friends made in Australia
- Sense of belonging in Australia
- Social networks available upon arrival
Life satisfaction
- Self-concept
- Self-efficacy
- Trusting different community groups and organisations
- Experience of discrimination
Perceptions of life in Australia
- Expectations before arrival
- Factors promoting or hindering settlement
- Overall settlement experience