Media and Digital Technologies for Mixed Methods Research in Public Health Emergencies Such as COVID-19: Lessons Learned From Using Interactive Radio–SMS for Social Research in Somalia

Radio shows which invite audience participation via short message service (SMS)—interactive radio–SMS—can be designed as a mixed methods approach for applied social research during COVID-19 and other crises in low middle income countries. In the aftermath of cholera outbreak Somalia, we illustrate how this method provides insights that would have been missed if purely qualitative or quantitative were used. We then examine strengths limitations associated with interactive radio–SMS through an evaluation using multimethod comparison. Our contributes application addresses specific challenge raised by COVID-19, namely utilizing media digital technologies