In our recent blog post, Choosing the Right Methodology for a Specific Situation, Khulisa evaluators Martha Muco and Jesse Webb described why they chose intercept interviews (II) as the evaluation method for a survey of refugee youth. The project provided valuable insights on how to conduct intercept interviews with vulnerable populations.

One of our top tips is to choose the right enumerators – the people who are physically collecting data from respondents. Our enumerator selection and training process complemented a 2021 World Bank post on tips for collecting surveys of hard-to-reach populations.

Since the respondents in our survey were refugees, we specifically sought to hire other refugees – who formed part of the target evaluation group themselves – to administer the surveys wherever possible. Our refugee enumerators allowed respondents to feel more comfortable, and the fact that enumerators often spoke the same language as their respondents helped to avoid translation issues. We were also able to work with our enumerators to revise the language used in the survey (administered via handheld tablets), to ensure enumerators could communicate easily with younger respondents.

The Khulisa team also worked with the enumerators to sensitize them to the mental health needs of the survey participants and the do-not-harm principles of evaluation.

For more about the II methodology and how Khulisa administer it, read our blog post.