Exploring the Use of Mobile Technology in Qualitative Inquiry in Africa

In this article I explore how mobile phones may facilitate greater access to participants and higher participation rates in qualitative inquiry in Africa. Qualitative researchers face a number of ethical and procedural challenges when collecting data in the field. But with the explosion of mobile phone usage, many of these obstacles to data collection may be ameliorated, facilitating greater access to participants, to data, and to important findings. I use the example of a research study on the connection between development and higher education at two public universities in Kenya to illustrate how mobile phones played an unexpected role in data collection. Finally, I discuss preliminary recommendations for using the mobile phone to contend with the myriad challenges to rigorous qualitative research in Africa. Keywords: Mobile Technology, Qualitative Research, Africa Qualitative researchers are frequently turning to technology to conduct, analyze, and disseminate inquiry. Note taking, observation, voice recording, video capture, and mind mapping applications have become de rigueur in fieldwork. Indeed, the ubiquitous presence, use, and acceptability of mobile phones in many societies have facilitated this and may have important implications for how we conduct qualitative research. However, discussions of these new technologies are researcher-user centered and do not take into consideration the use of technology by the participant, nor how this use can be exploited during the inquiry process. According to Geser (2004), “cell phones can be instrumentalized for preserving diffuse, pervasive roles which demand that the incumbent is available almost all the time, because such encompassing availability can be upheld even at times individuals are highly mobile and involved in other social or private activities” (p. 15). Frequently, these “activities” entail political, social, and cultural conditions that make data collection difficult, and sometimes dangerous – for researchers and our participants. Mobile technology may alleviate this jeopardy by mediating between participant and researcher and afford entree into participants’ complex experiences and insights. Nowhere has mobile technology become so embedded as in Africa; where, despite a persistent lack of infrastructure, political and economic instability, and other maladies, the mobile phone, in terms of access and use, has experienced unparalleled growth. “Over the past five years the continent's mobile phone use has increased at an annual rate of 65 percent twice the global average” (Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT], 2009, ¶ 1). This development has significant implications for the qualitative fieldwork process, which “locates the observer in the world” (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005, p. 3) and is often fraught with challenges, particularly in developing nations. Qualitative researchers often describe these obstacles as problems of participant attrition (due to health issues, migration, displacement, etc.; Crossley, 2008), participant literacy (Vuillaimy, 1990), language (Coe, 2001), access (Stephens, 1990), cross-cultural misunderstandings (Buzzard, 1990; Chilisa, 2005; Coe, 2001), bias (Womersley, Maw, & Swartz, 2011), and concerns with safety and prolonged field experience (Fife, 1997; Lewin, 1990), among others. Yet, with the explosion of mobile phone usage, many of these impediments to data collection may be ameliorated, facilitating greater access to participants, to data, and to important findings.