USA Resettlement Program Study
Now in it's 7th Year of tracking immigration into the USA from countries around the world and speaking to individuals about their motivations, experience and wellbeing. A 40 minute interview by phone with multiple open ended responses.
- 17 local languages & dialects
- 1,500 interviews
- Multiple open ended responses with 40 minute interviews via phone
Overview of the Refugee Resettlement Programme Study
Annually, our client commissions a vital study around their refugee resettlement programme; interviewing 1,500 recent immigrants, across a quantitative and qualitative study, in relation to their new life in the US. The refugee study covers a variety of positive aspects including work, education, and their children’s future, but also covers distressing topics such as reasons for their displacement and the traumas of local conflict. Interviews can be up to 40 minutes long with multiple open-ended questions.
Complexity of Interviewer Recruitment
Interviewer recruitment is complex; with the refugee respondents speaking languages such as Sgaw Karen, Amharic, and Rohingya, it requires the interviewers to be native in these languages. RONIN trained male and female interviewers (due to cultural sensitivities), speaking 21 lesser-known languages. Recruiting innovatively involved contacting religious organisations, refugee community groups, universities, and embassies.
Comprehensive Training for Interviewers
We developed our most comprehensive face-to-face training programme, designed to be interactive from the start, an important factor in building confidence within the interviewer group swiftly. This increased confidence was integral to ensuring that the interviewers could get the best out of the refugee participants. Throughout the training, significant emphasis was placed on MRS rules relating to vulnerable participants.
Interviewers were trained in how to interview empathetically and understand when a respondent is becoming distressed recounting past experiences, giving them the confidence to use their discretion as to when to move on.
Continuous Training and Development
To ensure high-quality data, training and development were continuous throughout the three months of research. We pride ourselves on being forward-thinking and thorough in our research preparation. For this international project, we recognised the need for a qualitative approach to complement quantitative telephone research. We brought together our multi-lingual interviewers, challenging them to expand beyond traditional quantitative methods and embrace qualitative techniques. By providing comprehensive training on empathetic interviewing and sensitive topic management, we ensured our team could navigate complex conversations professionally, ultimately delivering richer, more nuanced insights for our client.
The Value of Discussion-Based Interviews
Phone interviewing (CATI) provides an opportunity to ask semi-structured questions and record open-ended answers that can be probed for maximum information and insight. The discussion-based interview still remains the most efficient way to collect meaningful and relevant insights, particularly for complex topics or hard-to-reach audiences.
RONIN were very forward thinking/thorough in their preparation for this research. They needed a qualitative approach to an international quantitative telephone project. We brought together the multi-lingual telephone interviewers prior to the project, challenging them to open their quantitative minds to qualitative techniques and how to handle a sensitive subject empathetically. RONIN were welcoming and efficient, and were debriefed regularly supporting them in learning best practice and how to implement it. The training involved a very thorough explanation of qualitative techniques, role playing and a practical insight into analysis, helping them to understand how to always optimise their interview techniques.
WDG Research Moderator
This study is the most quality focussed data collection project I have seen in 25+ years of working in market research. Training takes place over six days (triple our usual MRS/IQCS best-practice training) and is always conducted in a culturally sensitive way. The very high return rate of interviewers is testament to the training and development we provide. Overall, it is one of the most rewarding projects that we conduct and the teamwork involved from client-facing staff, the CATI team, recruiters and trainers is excellent year after year and we are hugely proud of our work on this ongoing study.
RONIN International Managing Director
The training undertaken by RONIN was excellent. Despite this being my first time taking part in this project, I felt very supported throughout. The trainer was highly informative and very approachable in his manner making the sessions very interactive so I felt much more confident as the training went on with how I would speak with the refugees. He was also very clear, recognising that English wasn’t all our first languages and explaining in more detail. I was also very supported throughout the three months with the daily debriefs and the training team always checking in that I was ok throughout.
Interviewer