The Information Needs Matrix: A navigational guide for refugee integration

Abstract

This paper presents an information needs matrix as a navigation guide for refugees and host societies to support integration. It is an outcome from an information behaviour investigation into refugee integration, conducted through interviews with asylum seekers and refugees. A sense-making methodology was used as a framework to examine the experiences of refugees, focusing on the situations and information gaps encountered during integration. The study identified information needs on housing, financial, legal and social support, mobility, health, education, employment and state benefits. A unique feature of the proposed matrix is the order dependency of the uncovered needs by our investigation. The findings were validated with observation data collected while undertaking a role at the Scottish Refugee Council. The matrix can be used to guide society's provisions for integration, assess levels of individual integration and inform the design of information support for refugees.

People and places: Bridging the information gaps in refugee integration

“…Refugee integration was conceptualized as a sense‐making journey—participants recounted experiences situationally and the information gaps and sources in the situations elicited. The detailed interview protocol is published in Oduntan and Ruthven (2019).…”

“…Johnson (2009) advised that a broader view of our social world in human information behavior research could lead to richer policy implications for the field. Oduntan's (2018) study created an understanding that benefits both refugees and host societies in experiencing, designing, and delivering integration provisions, as well as, expanding our understanding of information sources and information behavior in complex contexts. Oduntan and Ruthven (2019) discussed the distinct information needs of different categories of people seeking protection (refugee, refused asylum seeker, and asylum seeker), unified with the term refuge‐seeker .…”

“…Oduntan's (2018) study created an understanding that benefits both refugees and host societies in experiencing, designing, and delivering integration provisions, as well as, expanding our understanding of information sources and information behavior in complex contexts. Oduntan and Ruthven (2019) discussed the distinct information needs of different categories of people seeking protection (refugee, refused asylum seeker, and asylum seeker), unified with the term refuge‐seeker . In this article, we examine information sources for meeting integration needs in light of the information needs matrix and address the following question: What are the information sources used on the integration journey?…”

“…Oduntan's (2018) information behavior investigation into refugee integration linked refugees' information needs to gaps in host society provisions and uncovered inequality in access to information, as depicted in Figure 1. The information needs matrix indicates how refugees navigated integration systems and the needs that arose during their integration journey.…”

“…The study showed that there were information gaps in “access to” and “delivery of” integration provision. In addition, a “ survival of the informed ” was evident, where possession of information was the trait that enabled refugees to progress on their integration journeys (Oduntan & Ruthven, 2019). The information needs matrix addresses which information needs occur on the integration journey; however, the sources are not explicit.…”