Smartphone-based ethnography for social change in urban marginalized communities

Thesis Abstract

This study responds to the persistent governance and social inequities experienced by urban marginalized communities, where traditional ethnographic approaches are impeded by safety concerns, mobility constraints, and limited access to long-term field immersion. It investigates how smartphone-based ethnography can be deployed to illuminate everyday practices, social networks, and resource flows that shape social change, while ensuring ethical engagement and actionable outputs for community stakeholders. The aim is to develop a rigorous, mobile-enabled ethnographic framework that generates nuanced insights into marginalization, resilience, and collective agency, and to translate these insights into policy-relevant recommendations and community-led interventions. The specific objectives are (1) to pilot a smartphone-assisted data collection protocol combining participant-generated media, push-notifications, and micro-ethnography diaries across four urban neighborhoods with high concentrations of informal economies; (2) to examine how digital traces and qualitative mobile artifacts reveal power relations, safety practices, and access to services; (3) to integrate thematic analysis with network analysis to map informal support systems and information channels; (4) to assess the reliability, validity, and ethical implications of mobile ethnography in sensitive urban contexts; and (5) to co-create evidence-based interventions with community organizations aimed at improving service access, safety, and social inclusion. The study adopts a mixed-methods, longitudinal design anchored in interpretivist and critical realist philosophies. The population comprises adults aged 18–60 residing in two informal settlements and two mixed-status neighborhoods within a major metropolitan area. A purposive, stratified sample of 160 participants will be recruited, ensuring representation across gender, age, occupation, and migrant status; 120 participants will engage in longitudinal smartphone-based data collection over six months, complemented by 40 in-depth interviews and 20 focus groups with community leaders and service providers. Data collection instruments include a smartphone-enabled ethnography app for daily photo and short-video diaries, experience sampling prompts, audio recordings of semi-structured micro-interviews, and GIS-enabled location tracking with participant consent. Supplementary data will be drawn from key informant interviews, local service usage statistics, and policy documents. Validity and reliability will be enhanced through triangulation of visual, textual, and spatial data, participant validation (member checking), and intercoder reliability checks (Cohen’s kappa) during thematic coding. A layered ethical framework will address informed consent, confidentiality, minimization of harm, data ownership, and community benefit, including a data-sharing charter and ongoing community advisory board oversight. Analytical techniques will combine thematic analysis with grounded theory coding to identify emergent themes around marginalization, digital literacy, and mobilization for change. Quantitative elements will be analyzed using descriptive statistics, cross-tabulations, and regression analyses to examine associations between digital engagement metrics (frequency of diary entries, media richness, response to prompts) and indicators of social inclusion (service access, safety experiences, participation in local initiatives). Social network analysis will map informal support networks and information diffusion pathways. A comparative case synthesis will elucidate how contextual differences across neighborhoods influence the effectiveness of smartphone-based ethnography as a change mechanism. Expected findings include (a) evidence that structured smartphone diaries yield richer contextual data on daily routines and constraints than episodic interviews, (b) identification of critical information channels that amplify or impede access to services, and (c) demonstration of co-created interventions that enhance local mutual aid and safety practices, with measurable improvements in perceived service availability and trust in local institutions. The study contributes to knowledge by advancing a scalable, ethically grounded framework for mobile ethnography that integrates digital methods with traditional qualitative inquiry to inform urban policy and community-led programs. It demonstrates how smartphone-based methodologies can generate actionable insights on social inequities, empower marginalized residents, and facilitate iterative co-design of interventions. The main conclusion anticipates that smartphone-based ethnography, when embedded within strong community governance structures, can produce timely, context-sensitive evidence that improves service access, social cohesion, and inclusive urban governance. Recommendations include guidelines for ethical deployment in similar contexts, protocols for sustaining community partnerships beyond the research period, and a roadmap for integrating mobile ethnography outputs into urban planning, social protection programs, and civil society advocacy.