Longitudinal study on the outcomes and governance of resettled refugees

All refugees who arrived under IRPP are welcome to take part in this survey, but it’s a bit different from other surveys. In order to take part, you must first receive the ESRI survey link from someone else in the IRPP community. When you finish the survey, you will receive your own unique link which you can share with up to three other IRPP refugees that you know.

When you open the link, you can choose to take the survey in Arabic, Farsi, or English. You can also choose to answer the survey through a phone call in Arabic or English.

When you finish the survey, it is important to you send the link to up to three other IRPP refugees. These should be people who you know or are friends with. If more people complete the survey, our understanding of the experiences of the IRPP refugee community will be stronger. Passing on the link is very important for the success of this study. If the link is not passed on, it will ‘break the chain’ and we may not be able to get accurate understanding of your experiences.

Below you will find Frequently Asked Questions relating to the survey.

The infographic for the refugee survey and a short video in English and Arabic can be found here on this webpage.

To participate in the survey, you must receive a link from another IRPP refugee. While this may be frustrating to those who wish to take part, this restriction is essential for the success of the survey. We expect the survey to run for approximately 6 months, from April 2026 so don’t worry if you have not yet received a link, it will take time for the survey to spread amongst the community.

This survey uses Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS). This is a common research technique for surveying groups such as migrants or refugees. Using this technique enables the research team to estimate key statistics for the population of IRPP refugees as a whole.

The following steps provide an overview of how RDS works:

• A small number of ‘seed participants’ have been chosen with the help of stakeholders/refugee community leaders. They answer the survey first (the link will be sent from the ESRI).
• When each participant finishes the survey, they get a unique link to the survey from ESRI, which accepts up to three responses. They are asked to share it with three other IRPP refugees.
• The new participants also answer the survey and afterwards are provided with their own unique survey link which accepts up to three responses.

This project aims to explore how well refugees resettled under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP) have integrated in Ireland. We try to understand what factors support or hinder integration outcomes for resettled refugees and how governance decisions and support programmes (such as language training, employment support, and availability of housing) shape the integration process.

You can participate if you have arrived in Ireland via the refugee resettlement programme (IRPP) since 2015, are over 18 years of age, and have received a survey link from another IRPP refugee.

If your family member or friend has received a link, is eligible to participate, and would like you to help them do so, it is ok to help them. 

You should send your survey link to three other IRPP refugees who you know. Ideally, they should be people who are not members of your family. It is best for the survey to reach as many different people as possible. 

You should share the survey link via WhatsApp, text message, or email. When you finish the survey, there will be a link which opens in WhatsApp with an example message. Feel free to share this or to edit the message – whatever is most natural to you. 

The survey can be completed online or over a phone call. It will take between 10 and 15 minutes. If you are completing the survey online, you can choose to take the survey in English, Arabic or Farsi. If you are completing the survey over the phone, you can choose to take the survey in Arabic or English. 

If you wish to take the survey over the phone, please open the survey link, and choose the ‘Phone survey’ option. Phone interviews are available 9:30am to 5:30pm on Mondays and Tuesdays. There is a question in the survey where you can note times which suit you. We will do our best to accommodate this. 

We hope that the results of this research will be used to inform better policies on refugee and migrant integration and thus help people in your position more effectively. To make that possible, we will use the results to produce publications for the ESRI in the form of reports, journal articles or conference presentations. We will also present the research to government bodies who are responsible for policy in this area. No publications or presentations from this research will include your real name or any information directly traceable to you as a person.

At the end of the survey, you can choose whether you wish to be contacted again regarding the research. If you choose ‘yes’ and leave contact information (email or a phone number), the study team may contact you again either about the survey or to ask if you agree to participate in focus group discussions or face-to-face interviews. If you choose no, the study team will not contact you and will not have your contact information.

No. It is entirely up to you whether or not you would like to participate in this survey (or the focus groups or interviews afterwards). Please be assured that there will be no negative consequences for you should you prefer not to participate. If you decide to complete the survey, but change your mind later on, you can contact our team via resettlement@esri.ie and we will delete all of your responses.

One year after completion of the research project, in 2030, the research team will delete all contact information along with the so-called mask sheet at which point all of the responses will be fully anonymous.