Thanks for Your Help! – The Value of Q&A Websites for Refugee Integration

Abstract

The huge number of people fleeing their home countries poses a challenge to refugees and host societies. Q&A websites are highly promising in supporting refugee integration, one long-term solution to displacement. In our study, we aim to identify how refugee Q&A websites are used and, as a result, what value they provide to their users with respect to refugee integration. Based on data of the successful Q&A website ‘Wefugees’, we apply a mixed-methods approach consisting of descriptive statistics, social network analysis, and content analysis. Our results indicate that Q&A websites serve for the provision of information on a broad range of integrational topics and, surprisingly, constitute a one-way support service instead of leading to community building. We are the first to examine Q&A websites in this context and expand literature studying the role of digital services for refugee integration. Our results further provide design implications for refugee Q&A websites.