Methodology

Abstract

This chapter explains the Representative Storytelling methodology and how we applied it to the context of refugees in Kakuma. We begin by offering an overview of Kakuma, a large, protracted refugee setting hosting about 250,000 refugees and more than 50,000 Kenyans. The chapter then describes the three steps of Representative Storytelling in Kakuma. In the first step, we conducted a representative household survey of 1,030 refugee households (8,333 individuals), stratified by nationality and location, yielding a rich quantitative dataset on livelihoods, consumption, shocks, and access to services. In the second step, we used this dataset to rank households by per capita income and select nine households located at different income deciles, from which we collected in-depth, filmed life histories in collaboration with local filmmakers. In the third step, we integrated qualitative narratives and quantitative evidence to construct contextualized stories: preserving participants’ voices, using survey data to situate each story within camp-wide patterns, and drawing on visual description, additional interviews, and long-term fieldwork to provide interpretive context.