Helga Eggebø (Ph.D), Research Professor at the NRI, has extensive research experiences about discrimination and inclusion/exclusion processes in the context of migration, sexual orientation and gender. She has substantial expertise in qualitative research and has developed innovative methods for collective research. Moreover, she is a prolific writer for a wide variety of national broadsheet and online news media.
Research
Helga Eggebø holds a Ph.d. in sociology from the University of Bergen. Her research focuses on three key areas: 1) immigration regulation, 2) social inequality and discrimination and 3) qualitative methods.
In 2013 Eggebø defended her Ph.d. thesis about the regulation of marriage migration to Norway. She had investigated family immigration policy from the perspectives of policy makkers, migrants’ and sponsors’ applying for family immigration and case workers in the immigration administration. This work is widely cited and Eggebø has been invited to the UK House of Lords committee to talk about her expertise in family immigration regulation. Her later work includes immigration regulation policy and migrants experiences across admission categories, focusing in particular on the status of permanent residence and monetary requirements in immigration regulations.
Eggebø’s investigations of discrimination and social inequality in the Nordic context covers a wide range of groups and policy areas. Importantly, she has done extensive empirical work on living conditions among queer people, and figures as one of Norways key scholars in this field being invited to lecture, review and participate in expert groups on this issue. Also, her work includes analyses of gender equality policies, care policies for older people and climate policy. The Nordic welfare regime and anti-discrimination legislation is an overarching framework for understanding social inequality. Between 2010-2012, Eggebø was a member of a Governement appointed investigation on Gender Equality, and based on this work she has written extensively about gender equality for policy-makers, public authorities and other stake-holders.
During the past ten years, Eggebø have worked systematically to develop collective methods in academia. Her 2020 Norwegian publication about collective qualitative analysis has been widely cited and translated into English. The article is a part of the methods curriculum at many Norwegian universities, and the method is popular among qualitative researchers and students in the humanities and social sciences. Helga is currently working systematically to develop and expand her work on collective qualitative analysis through teaching, supervision, collaborative work, and she has started the process of writing a textbook for higher education. Her recent publications about methods includes an article combining collective analysis with the What’s the Problem Represented to Be? Approach (WPR developed by Carol Bacchi).
Collective qualitative analysis
As a PhD-candidate, I remember feeling overwhelmed, baffeled and alone – almost in panic – the day I had finished collecting all data and sat in my office with several hundred pages of transcribed interviews on my desk. What to do know? I am not the only one who have struggled with feelings of despair confronted with a large set of qualitative data. Davis Silverman has described qualitative analysis as a “mystery”.
To grapple with the mystery and get started, I have developed the method «collective qualitative analysis». It is a step by step way of working with group analysis:
- Data reduction
- Read through data together
- Mapping themes
- Thematic grouping
- Outline and work plan
More about collective qualitative analysis:
What can I do for you?
In addition to my job as a researcher at Nordland Research Institute, I do on demand jobs, such as digital and face-to-face lectures, expert committees and workshop facilitation. Feel free to contact me for requests.
Contact me
E-mail: heg@nforsk.no
Secondary e-mail: helga.eggebo@gmail.com
Phone: +47 92436479
Peer reviewed publications in English
- Staver, Anne og Helga Eggebø (2023) «Everything but the marriage certificate: Unmarried partners in Norwegian immigration regulation», Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, jxad005. DOI:
- Eggebø, Helga, Vilde Hernes og Anne Staver (2023) «Do integration requirements undermine egalitarianism?». I C. Lo og A. Dankertsen (red.), 102-116, The End of Norwegian Egalitarianism? Universitetsforlaget.
- Eggebø, Helga og Anne Staver (2021) «Follow the money: Income requirements in Norwegian Immigration Regulations». I T. de Lange, A. Schrauwen, og W. Maas (red.), Money Matters in Migration: Policy, Participation, and Citizenship (s. 130–146). Cambridge University Press.
- Eggebø, Helga, Aase Kristine Lundberg og Mari Teigen (2022) «Gaps and Silences: Gender and Climate Policies in the Global North». Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society,
- Schönfelder, Walter, Helga Eggebø og Mai Camilla Munkejord (2020) «Social care for older people – a blind spot in the Norwegian care system». Social Work in Health Care, 59(9-10), 631–649.
- Eggebø, H. (2020). “Collective qualitative analysis“. (V. Szepessy, Trans.) Norsk sosiologisk tidssskrift 4(2): 106-122.
- Eggebø, Helga og Jan-Paul Brekke (2019) «Family migration and integration – The need for a new research agenda». Nordic Journal of Migration Research, 9(4), 425–444.
- Eggebø, Helga, Mai Camilla Munkejord og Walter Schönfelder (2019) «Land, History and People: Older people’s Stories about Meaningful Activities and Social Relations in Later Life». Journal of Population Ageing, 13(4), 465–483.
- Eggebø, Helga (2013) «A real marriage?: Applying for marriage migration to Norway». Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 39(5), 773–789.
- Eggebø, Helga (2013) «’With a heavy heart’. Ethics, emotions and rationality in immigration administration». Sociology, 47(2), 301–317.
- Eggebø, Helga (2010) «The Problem of Dependency: Immigration, Gender and the Welfare state». Social Politics, 17(3), 295–322.
- Munkejord, Mai Camilla, Walter Schönfelder og Helga Eggebø (2019) «Voices from the North: Stories About Active Ageing, Everyday Life and Home-Based Care Among Older People in Northern Norway». I P. Naskali, J. R. Harbison, og S. Begum (red.), New Challenges to Ageing in the Rural North: A Critical Interdisciplinary Perspective (193–206). Springer International Publishing.