Mobile Myanmar: The Impact of Social Media on Young People Living in Conflict-Affected Regions of Myanmar Research Lead: Joy Wiskin, SC-Myanmar Protecting Children in Conflict (PCiC) Advisor, MS Conflict Analysis & Resolution Joy Wiskin served as the linchpin holding together the field team and served as the key point of coordination between the field team and Save the Children Myanmar (SC-Myanmar), as well the Research Advisor and Academic Partners. Joy recruited and trained the research assistants in the methodology and research tools. She also accompanied the team for piloting and data collection where appropriate, while bearing in mind that the presence of a foreigner can in some cases introduce difficulties for participation and logistics (in the case of travel approvals, and on-site translation). Joy also adapted the research tools based on feedback from the piloting, oversaw quality control over notetaking and translation into English, conducted daily debriefs with the Research Associates during data collection, and prepared the data files for analysis by Academic Partners at the University of Sydney. She also provided review and feedback on multiple drafts of the report. Research Associates: Paul Miki L Seng Du and Theh Mar The Research Associates were selected through SC-Myanmar’s rigorous vetting process from a pool of more than 38 applicants. The selected Research Associates were responsible for facilitating Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and Key Information Interviews (KIIs). Whilst one Research Associate facilitated the discussion/interview, the other took notes, alternating these roles between sessions, usually based on the gender of the FGD or KII participant(s). The FGD/KII facilitator also produced their own analysis of each session, particularly key findings (as they remembered them) to supplement the notetaking/translating by the notetaker. The Research Associates translated all session notes and analysis into English and participated in processing sessions and in a preliminary analysis workshop with the Research Lead. They also reviewed near-final drafts of the report for accuracy. Academic Partner: Cyberpsychology Research Group, The University of Sydney Brad Ridout, PhD, MAPS, Research Fellow and PBA Registered Psychologist Krestina Amon, PhD, Lecturer Andrew Campbell, PhD, MAPS, Senior Lecturer and PBA Registered Psychologist Lead Academic Partner Brad Ridout was responsible for reviewing the methodology, research tools, ethics protocols and providing ongoing technical expertise as needed. Brad led the analysis of all qualitative and quantitative data provided by the Research Lead, and the writing of the Results and Discussion and Recommendations sections of this report. Krestina led the coding and analysis of the FGD results (double-coded by Brad), while Brad led the coding and analysis of the KII results (double-coded by Andrew) and quantitative analysis of the survey results. Brad, with assistance from Andrew, also conducted the final analysis using a cyberpsychology lens, and wrote the recommendations, in consultation with the Research Advisor and the Research Lead. Selection of research sites Given the findings of the literature review, which suggested that digital cultures are highly varied throughout Myanmar, the methodology focused on a limited number of locations rather than on attempting a broader sample. This means that the research cannot be considered ‘representative’, however, to achieve a sample size large enough to be representative, the team size would need to balloon or the timeline would have to be extended – both of these options would have limited the eventual data quality. Another major consideration was the desire to complement Phandeeyar’s ‘Digital Cultures’ research project, which focused on urban hubs, by focusing on more rural/isolated and conflictaffected areas. As such, the methodology used three criteria to guide the selection of research sites:  Areas with existing relevant SC-Myanmar programming;  Areas with a history of conflict;  Areas with high mobile/internet penetration vis-à-vis other development statistics. Given these criteria, Rakhine and Kayah States were selected. 28