Researchers launch Ethnic minority Internet & mobile phone use survey with free phone calls reward

Researchers at the University of Warwick are key collaborators in an an online survey launched this week, which will investigate how minority ethnic groups and migrants are using new information and technologies. Participants will be asked how they use the Internet and mobile phones to talk with friends, to find information, to get a job, and participate in the local community and wider society.

The survey, which can be found at http://www.15minutescloser.com , takes only 15 minutes to complete, and one in ten respondents will receive 15 minutes of free phone calls as a reward. The survey opens on October 11th and will continue until the end of the year.

The University of Warwick is a partner in a new EU-funded research project (ConnectIEM) which is concerned with the ways in which Information and Technology (ICT) is used by migrants from outside the EU and people from minority ethnic groups to help them integrate. It is being conducted in eight countries: Austria, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom.

People born outside the EU and people whose parents were born outside the EU are invited to complete the questionnaire, which can be found at: http://www.15minutescloser.com . The survey can be completed on a computer, or on a smart phone.

The researchers are particularly interested to hear from people whose family backgrounds are from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh or the Caribbean.

ICT has great potential to improve the educational, employment and social opportunities available to individuals. The ConnectIEM research project will obtain the first statistically representative cross-national data on the information and communication technologies (ICT) skills, access and usage of the larger minority communities with ethnic origins outside the EU. The information gathered by the survey will be used by the EU to help develop policy proposals to improve the way in which migrants from outside the EU and their descendants are included within member states.

The ConnectIEM project is being undertaken on behalf of the EU’s Institute for Prospective Technological Studies by a multi-national research team led by Adela Ros of the Open University of Catalonia (Universidad Oberta Catalunya). To find out more about the research, go to www.connectiem.net.

David Owen at the School of Health and Social Studies, and IER, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL. His telephone number is: 024-7652-4259 e-mail address is D.W.Owen [a] warwick.ac (p) uk.

Peter Dunn, Head of , University of Warwick
Tel: 024 76 523708 or mobile 07767 655860 p.j.dunn [a] warwick.ac (p) uk

PR151 14th October 2011