Comparing online and in-person surveys: assessing a measure of resilience with Syrian refugee youth

ABSTRACT

Humanitarian research with Syrian refugees can be difficult to conduct in-person, due to COVID-19 containment, security, and logistics issues. We assessed whether the online implementation of a brief, culturally grounded resilience measure would yield reliable responses for use with children and adolescents in the Middle East region. We implemented an online survey screening for socio-economic status, insecurity, prosocial behaviour, and resilience (using the Child Youth Resilience Measure, CYRM) with 119 Syrian refugees (14–18 years old; 74 male, 45 female) living in Jordan. Responses were compared with in-person data, available for a separate cohort of 324 Syrian refugees, previously sampled in Jordan with the same survey instruments. The online CYRM produced reliable and valid responses, as shown by analyses of internal reliability, convergent and divergent validity, and 7-day test-retest consistency. We reflect on logistic, ethical, and methodological challenges of online surveys, and suggest ways to plan and execute online research with hard-to-reach, crisis-affected communities.

KEYWORDS:

• Mental health
• online data collection
• response rate
• scale validation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The research received support from Yale University’s Program on Refugees, Forced Displacement, and Humanitarian Responses (PRFDHR) and the Program on Conflict, Resilience and Health (CRH) at the MacMillan Center for Area and International Studies. It was facilitated by Save the Children Fund (Jordan office) and the Taghyeer Foundation (Jordan office). English and Arabic versions of the 12-item resilience measure (CYRM-12) are available, free of charge (https://crh.macmillan.yale.edu/news/new-tool-measures-resilience-adolescent-syrian-refugees).

Notes on contributors

Catherine Panter-Brick

Catherine Panter-Brick, PhD, is a medical anthropologist and professor at Yale University, New Haven (USA). She leads research initiatives on risk and resilience to develop effective partnerships between scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.

Rana Dajani

Rana Dajani, PhD, is a Professor of molecular cell biology at Hashemite University (Jordan). Her research focuses on the signatures of war and displacement across generations, and on ways to build networks, do better science, and develop programs rooted in the community.

Dima Hamadmad

Dima Hamadmad, BA, is a research scientist with a background in Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering. She has worked on multiple research projects with Syrian refugee families, as Program Manager for the Taghyeer Foundation (Jordan office).

Kristin Hadfield

Kristin Hadfield, PhD, is an assistant professor in the School of Psychology and the Trinity Centre for Global Health at Trinity College Dublin (Ireland). Her research examines how the mental health and wellbeing of children and adolescents who experience substantial adversity can best be promoted.