Access to justice, digitalization and public ombuds work

Régions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area, Dehcho Region, North Slave Region, South Slave Region

étiquettes: digitized public services, access to justice

chercheur principal: Dahlvik, Julia (1)
Nᵒ de permis: 17361
Organisation: University of Applied Sciences FH Campus Wien
Année(s) de permis: 2023
Délivré: oct. 18, 2023

Objectif(s): To investigate the experiences of citizens and the practices and strategies of public ombuds institutions, in the measures they take to ensure equal access to justice for all in the context of increasingly digitalized public services, and with what effects.

Description du projet: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No. 5497. This research project pursues a dual perspective: it is interested in both the experiences of citizens and the practices and strategies of public ombuds institutions, that is, what measures they take to ensure equal access to justice for all in the context of increasingly digitalized public services, and with what effects. In addition, the perspective of government/public administration representatives will be taken into account. Adding to this, a comparative approach will be used to answer the question of what role country-specific social contexts (such as: overall level of digitalization, legal culture, and institutional frameworks) play in explaining different institutional designs and their effects in ensuring equal access to justice. The interests and research questions as well as the exploratory approach of this study require a qualitative approach to understand citizens' subjective experiences (otherwise referred to as “Lifeworld” in English or “Lebenswelt” in German) and practices, as well as institutional practices and discourses. Through comparative case studies, both local and cross-site patterns can be analyzed. The project will study in detail 4-5 institutions/countries. The case study countries not only include a geographical diversity (Global North as well as Global South); the selection will also include different socio-political contexts and is based on factors such as population size, level of digitalization in the country (incl. individual and state use), but also indices of social inequality. The generation and analysis of qualitative data necessarily takes place in an open, cyclical process that requires flexibility and adaptation. As far as possible, the same combination of methods will be used to generate data in each case study: 1) 10-15 interviews (approx. 40-60 minutes) and, if possible, 1-2 focus group discussions (approx. 2h) with citizens/community members on their experiences with (digitalized) public services, access to justice and digitalization in general; 2) 5-10 interviews with ombudspersons, staff and other experts on the legal culture and the development of public services and digitalization in the respective country (approx. 1-2h); 3) 1-2 interviews with employees of the government/public administration on digitalization of services, interaction with citizens, access to justice (approx. 1-2h); 4) 5-10 observations of face-to-face consultations and other outreach activities; shadowing of ombudspersons or employees during their daily work (especially complaint handling and communication with citizens). Analysis of websites and documents: focus on user-friendliness with special consideration of different communication channels and the self-representation of institutions; Available secondary data will also be taken into account, e.g. user demographics. Generated data will not allow for drawing conclusions about individual study participants. The PI has contacted the NWT Ombuds Office as well as First Nation representatives and government/administration representatives to get support for this study, including facilitation of access to community members. Several relevant actors have already agreed to participate. Before the actual field research, the PI will re-contact the stakeholders to arrange concrete appointments. In the scope of the ombuds' outreach events (in particular the Inuvik Christmas fare) the PI will address interested persons individually to establish contacts with possible interview partners. Research findings will be shared with all actors participating in the research (communities, ombuds, government/administration), through a short-written report and possibly through other media such as a podcast. The findings will be presented in an easily understandable manner. Radio stations and (local) newspapers might also be interested in sharing research findings with the population. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from: November 01 - December 22, 2023