Beyond the Survey: Insights and Challenges from Fieldwork on Barranquilla’s Response to the Migration Situation

By Jhon G. Botello and Liss Romero

People waiting outside a hospital…

Others hurrying to catch a bus…

A group of elderly folks playing dominoes and voicing their concerns about security issues…

A friendly vendor complaining about how each day makes it harder to earn enough for a meal…

These were just some everyday scenes we encountered while walking through Barranquilla and its surrounding towns, exploring how host communities perceive and respond to migration.

In August 2024, we (at Storymodelers) published our article, “Adapting and Validating a Survey to Assess Host Communities’ Support for Migration.” In the article, we report on the development and validation of a questionnaire that addresses a critical gap: understanding how host communities perceive sudden and large-scale arrivals of refugees and migrants. While the publication covers the technical aspects of our research, in this blog, we want to share some of the insights and challenges we encountered during the fieldwork.

The Big Picture

Map of Barranquilla by Area

Our work was conducted in Barranquilla, Colombia on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, and involved face-to-face surveys with community members. Despite not being a border city, Barranquilla has been a hotspot for Venezuelan migrants, consistently ranking among the five Colombian cities with the largest Venezuelan migrant populations over time. Barranquilla has also been proactive in supporting migrants. For instance, it established the Local Integration Center for Migrants, a one-stop hub that centralizes services for Venezuelan refugees, migrants, and Colombian returnees, helping them access essential services and integrate into the community.

Collecting in-person surveys captured more than mere quantitative response data; it captured personal stories deeply rooted in individual experiences and perceptions. Unlike more impersonal methods of data collection, in-person survey data collection requires empathy, patience, and engagement, as people reveal parts of themselves and their views that aren’t easily shared with strangers. This process underscored the critical importance of humanizing data collection by first connecting with people authentically and respectfully.

Breaking the Ice: Small Gestures, Big Impact

Approaching each participant was, without a doubt, the biggest challenge we faced. Gaining someone’s trust, even temporarily, is not easy when you suddenly appear with a group of people dressed alike, notebooks in hand, ready to ask questions about their newly arrived neighbors. Their suspicious looks, cautious responses, and awkward silence were constant reminders of the barriers we had to overcome.

Saying “Hi” and explaining the purpose of the research—followed by an ethical protocol—are not sufficient to start a conversation. Instead, starting with a smile and casual questions about their day gave us an opening to talk with them.

It was never a long chat, but it helped us establish trust and show the participant we were not there to judge them or their answers. We wanted to talk about a reality that we, as interviewers and locals to the area, were also part of. As a result, participants became more interested and open to answering our survey questions.

A few times, we approached informal vendors without mentioning that we wanted to survey them. We were thirsty, so we bought water from them and started chatting about how hot the day was. It seemed almost like magic how naturally the conversation led to our topic of interest. Some people immediately commented on the heat and mentioned that they hadn’t sold much that day due to the high number of informal vendors. Some even blamed migrants for the competition. People expressed their opinions as long as we engaged with them authentically and respectfully. We just had to identify opportunities to move ahead with our survey.

Battling Survey Fatigue: Keeping Participants Engaged

A major challenge for us was survey fatigue. Our questionnaire—40 questions long—required 15-20 minutes to complete. Participants sometimes declined immediately upon hearing how long it would take or grew tired partway through.

We found that keeping participants engaged required actively listening, genuinely responding, and carefully balancing empathy with neutrality. Many times, they asked questions like: Right? What do you think about that? Can you believe it? This experience taught us the value of patience, strong listening skills, and maintaining unbiased conversations during fieldwork.

Beyond the Answers

Whether on a Likert scale or open-ended, participant responses often came with personal stories. We heard stories of gratitude and empathy from those who had built friendships with Venezuelan migrants, contrasting with frustration and concern among those facing conflicting views on migration.

While listening to their stories, we learned that fieldwork carries significant ethical responsibilities. For instance, we heard a woman recount how she lost her husband when a migrant attempted to rob him, and the gun accidentally went off. At that moment, our role went beyond data collection—we became confidants of her story, a story that required care and respect.

Conclusion

Student researchers traveling by motorcycle in the community to gather responses for the survey

Overall, community-based data collection was an experience we would gladly repeat, whether in the same context or a different one. We learned new ways to connect with people and to see research as more than just methods and statistics. It would be great to analyze the differences between conducting fieldwork across subjects. We are also eager to learn about others’ experiences and insights from their fieldwork.

We are deeply grateful to everyone who participated in our surveys. Their willingness to share their perspectives enabled us to conduct our research successfully and provided us with valuable fieldwork experience from which we learned a great deal.