Using Smartphone Technology for Research on Refugees

Evidence from Germany

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2330968
AutoresFlorian Keusch (0000-0003-1002-4092, University of Mannheim, autor de correspondencia), Mariel McKone Leonard (0000-0001-5321-8749, University of Mannheim), Christoph Sajons (Institute for SME Research (ifm), University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany), Susan Steiner (0000-0002-5630-4201, Center for Evaluation and Development (C4ED), Mannheim, Germany)
Año2021
Volumen50
Número4
Páginas1863-1894
Fecha de publicación2021-11-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSociological Methods & Research (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0049-1241 • E-ISSN: 1552-8294
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0049124119852377
OpenAlexW2947430470
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas12
Referencias citadas27

Researchers attempting to survey refugees over time face methodological issues because of the transient nature of the target population. In this article, we examine whether applying smartphone technology could alleviate these issues. We interviewed 529 refugees and afterward invited them to four follow-up mobile web surveys and to install a research app for passive mobile data collection. Our main findings are as follows: First, participation in mobile web surveys declines rapidly and is rather selective with significant coverage and nonresponse biases. Second, we do not find any factor predicting types of smartphone ownership, and only low reading proficiency is significantly correlated with app nonparticipation. However, obtaining sufficiently large samples is challenging-only 5 percent of the eligible refugees installed our app. Third, offering a 30 Euro incentive leads to a statistically insignificant increase in participation in passive mobile data collection

Business · Data collection · Economics · Incentive · Internet privacy · Mobile apps · Political science · Population · Reading (process) · Refugee · Social science · Sociology · World Wide Web · Applied Psychology · Computer Science · Demography · Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Psychology · Survey Methodology and Nonresponse