WhatsApp as a Tool for Researching the Everyday Lives of Venezuelan Refugees Settling in Brazil

Abstract

In this article, we explore the role that WhatsApp can play as a research tool for investigating the experiences of settling refugees. Messaging apps can help researchers collect data about people’s everyday lives while also providing insights into processes that are difficult to study as they happen. The communicative affordances of messaging apps also facilitate spontaneous interactions in research and the flexibility needed when working with mobile groups of people, such as refugees. We build on our experience of interacting together with Venezuelan refugees through the Conexión Sin Fronteras (Connection Without Borders) WhatsApp group, which was designed by the researchers in the form of an intervention focused on building community among Venezuelans settling in the city of Boa Vista, Brazil. Our experience shows that data collection in WhatsApp allows researchers to obtain relevant insights into social support, relationship-building, and negotiations of rules in a group context. However, our research outlines challenges related to the varied engagement of participants in WhatsApp group chats and the difficulty for researchers to be always present during group conversations. Limitations to the use of WhatsApp in research with refugee populations also include restrictions in terms of internet capacity shaping the types of data participants choose to share. In this context, it is crucial to address barriers to access to connectivity and create opportunities to enhance refugees’ literacy regarding data collection in digital spaces. We hope these findings will contribute to the development of inclusive methodological approaches using mobile apps in refugee settings.

Design and implementation of an intensive panel survey with refugees and other migrants in need of protection in Costa Rica

“…Our formative focus groups indicated that MNP in Costa Rica can typically access both. Nevertheless, studies of Latin American MNP who have migrated to other countries in the region suggest that the most socioeconomically disadvantaged MNP and those living in rural areas may have a more difficult time accessing either [73][74][75]. It therefore remains possible that some groups of MNP are underrepresented in our study.…”

The Shifting Nature of Relationality in the Blurred Boundaries of Hybrid Organizational Ethnography

“…While a number of studies focus on using digital technology to study phenomena or research subjects’ experience of online/offline interactions (e.g. Alencar and Carmago, 2022), few exist on the intricacies of conducting hybrid ethnography. Those that do, focus mainly on methodological tools such as how to gain access and conduct research by combining physical and digital presence (e.g.…”

Glitches in the Digitization of Asylum: How CBP One Turns Migrants’ Smartphones into Mobile Borders

“…Mobiles phones have become integrated into the dynamic processes of global migration in recent years. Migrants use these technologies to, among other things, facilitate the migration journey, save and share important documents, maintain relationships across distances, call for search and rescue services, send and receive money, access medical services, obtain food rations, apply for or renew visa statuses, and learn the language of their host countries [1][2][3]21]. For asylum seekers in particular, smartphones may be used to store or retrieve evidence that substantiates their asylum claims with the understanding that paper evidence may be lost, destroyed, or stolen along the migrant journey.…”

“…Migration and migration controls are becoming increasingly mediated through technology. Existing research has examined how migrants use mobile phones to facilitate the migration journey, save and share important documents, maintain relationships across distances, call for search and rescue services, send and receive money, access medical services, obtain food rations, apply for or renew visa statuses, document abusive state practices, and learn the language of their host country [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. Governments, too, have incorporated technology into migration controls by deploying biometric screening at borders, developing complex regimes of surveillance, and incorporating algorithms and artificial intelligence into decision-making processes [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16].…”