Primary readers: qualitative researchers, program designers, and NGOs working on digital gender inclusion. The primary keyword for this post is gender digital exclusion qualitative analysis. This post translates the PLOS One study protocol into concrete, reproducible steps for AI-enabled qualitative research and shows how to operationalize transcription, translation, thematic coding, and co-design evidence. The analysis approach below focuses on sample size, timeline, participatory methods, and practical AI tools that speed transcription and cross-segment thematic synthesis.
Key Takeaways
According to PLOS One (Shahil-Feroz et al., 2026) PLOS One, the protocol defines a three-phase community-based participatory research (CBPR) project in Azam Basti, Karachi, beginning in February 2026 to examine sociocultural drivers of women's digital exclusion.
According to PLOS One (Shahil-Feroz et al., 2026) PLOS One, the study will recruit approximately 36–45 participants for focus groups, interviews, and co-design workshops and will use Urdu transcription with English translation and reflexive thematic analysis.
- Sample: The protocol plans roughly 36–45 participants across FGDs, in-depth interviews, and co-design workshops, with recruitment expected between August and November 2026 (PLOS One, 2026).
- National context: According to the GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report 2024 GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report 2024, women in Pakistan were 38% less likely than men to own a mobile phone or access mobile internet in 2024.
- Policy context: According to the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report 2024 Global Gender Gap 2024, Pakistan ranked 145 out of 146 countries in 2024, underscoring structural gender inequities relevant to digital inclusion.
- Funding and timeline: The project is funded by an SSHRC Insight Development Grant of $70, 626 and is scheduled to begin in February 2026 with results expected beginning in late 2027 (PLOS One, 2026).
- Framing note: The protocol explicitly identifies “"deeply entrenched sociocultural barriers"” as a central explanatory factor and aims to "move beyond awareness-based approaches" through co-design with family gatekeepers and community leaders (Shahil-Feroz et al., 2026).
What Happened / How the PLOS One protocol works
Summary answer: According to PLOS One (Shahil-Feroz et al., 2026) PLOS One, the authors published a study protocol on August 20, 2026 that details a three-phase CBPR project in Azam Basti to explore gendered barriers to digital access.
According to PLOS One (Shahil-Feroz et al., 2026), Phase 1 establishes a Community Advisory Committee (CAC) with community leaders, marginalized women, and family gatekeepers to co-lead instrument development and participant recruitment.
According to PLOS One (Shahil-Feroz et al., 2026), Phase 2 runs focus group discussions (FGDs) and 4–5 in-depth interviews per participant group, uses photo-elicitation for women and role-play for gatekeepers, and plans Urdu transcription with English translation for analysis.
According to PLOS One (Shahil-Feroz et al., 2026), Phase 3 convenes 3 co-design workshops (8–10 participants each) to develop community-informed strategies and knowledge-translation materials, with reflexive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke) and NVivo used for coding.
Constraint and ethical point: According to PLOS One (Shahil-Feroz et al., 2026), the study will protect participants with ethics approvals from Western University, Aga Khan University, and Pakistan’s National Bioethics Committee and uses written or thumbprint consent procedures for low-literacy participants.
Findings Snapshot
| Date | Metric | Value | Implication |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 20, 2026 | Publication | Study protocol published in PLOS One | Publicly available methods for replication and secondary analysis |
| February 2026 | Project start | Project scheduled to begin February 2026 | Preparation, CAC formation, and pilot materials in first 6 months |
| Aug–Nov 2026 | Recruitment window | Participant recruitment expected Aug–Nov 2026 (~36–45 people) | Manageable sample for deep reflexive thematic analysis |
| 2024 | Mobile gender gap | Women in Pakistan 38% less likely to own/access mobile internet (GSMA, 2024) | Contextualizes barriers beyond technology: affordability and norms |
| 2024 | Global gender rank | Pakistan ranked 145/146 in Global Gender Gap Index 2024 (WEF) | Signals structural inequalities that co-design must address |
| 2025 | Grant amount | $70, 626 SSHRC Insight Development Grant | Modest budget; prioritize high-value participatory and analytic activities |
Implications for qualitative researchers and program designers
Direct answer: According to PLOS One (Shahil-Feroz et al., 2026), researchers should pair participatory methods with rigorous language workflows and plan for community validation to make findings actionable.
According to PLOS One (Shahil-Feroz et al., 2026), including family gatekeepers and community leaders in co-design reduces the risk that interventions are limited to awareness campaigns and increases local buy-in for norm change.
Method implication: According to PLOS One (Shahil-Feroz et al., 2026), audio must be transcribed in Urdu and translated to English before reflexive thematic coding; researchers should budget for bilingual transcription and back-translation checks to preserve meaning.
Program design implication: According to PLOS One (Shahil-Feroz et al., 2026), co-designed strategies should be tested in low-risk enactments such as role-play and World Café dialogues to surface social acceptability before scaling.
How Evidano Helps
Problem: Urdu audio, translation, and transcription slow analysis
Evidano is an AI-powered qualitative data analysis platform that helps researchers analyze interviews, open-ended surveys, and documents.
Solution: Use Evidano’s speech-to-text with a custom dictionary for Urdu transcription to produce time-stamped transcripts that reduce manual typing time and preserve interview metadata.
Practical note: PLOS One (Shahil-Feroz et al., 2026) requires Urdu→English translation and validation; Evidano’s translation features support team glossaries and side-by-side source-target review.
Problem: Reflexive thematic analysis is time-consuming and hard to compare across segments
Solution: Evidano’s thematic and cross-segment analysis tools (see features) accelerate codebook generation, show frequency counts by participant group, and let you compare themes across marginalized women, gatekeepers, and leaders.
Practical note: PLOS One (Shahil-Feroz et al., 2026) plans comparative analysis across participant groups; Evidano automates co-occurrence matrices and hierarchical code visualizations to support that comparative work.
Problem: Teams need collaborative validation with community advisory inputs
Solution: Evidano supports secure team workspaces and AI chat over uploaded transcripts to produce narrative summaries you can share with a Community Advisory Committee for rapid validation before final coding.
Security note: Evidano encrypts data and does not use customer data to train third-party models; use Evidano to store and analyze sensitive community transcripts while maintaining confidentiality.
Problem: Turning qualitative insights into stakeholder-ready materials
Solution: Evidano can generate extractable theme summaries, verbatim quote tables, and shareable visualizations that map directly to policy briefs and co-design workshop outputs described in PLOS One (Shahil-Feroz et al., 2026).
Practical CTA: For teams preparing community-facing infographics and voice messages, combine Evidano outputs with co-design notes to accelerate stakeholder dissemination.
FAQ: gender digital exclusion qualitative analysis
How many participants will the PLOS One protocol sample require?
Answer: The protocol plans approximately 36–45 participants across FGDs, in-depth interviews, and co-design workshops.
Supporting detail: According to PLOS One (Shahil-Feroz et al., 2026), two FGDs per participant group with 4–5 people each plus 4–5 interviews per group is expected, with final numbers adjusted by theoretical saturation.
Can AI handle Urdu transcription and English translation for reflexive thematic analysis?
Answer: Yes, AI-assisted workflows can produce high-quality Urdu transcripts and draft translations that should be validated by bilingual researchers.
Supporting detail: According to PLOS One (Shahil-Feroz et al., 2026), transcripts will be created in Urdu and translated to English before analysis; teams should use AI transcription plus human review to preserve nuance and reduce bias.
What ethical safeguards matter for community-based digital inclusion research?
Answer: Informed consent, culturally appropriate recruitment, and data protection are core safeguards for CBPR on digital inclusion.
Supporting detail: According to PLOS One (Shahil-Feroz et al., 2026), ethics approvals were obtained from Western University, Aga Khan University, and Pakistan’s National Bioethics Committee, and consent includes thumbprints for low-literacy participants.
How should researchers report co-design outputs so policymakers can act?
Answer: Report co-design outputs with traceable participant quotes, theme frequency, and clear implementation recommendations.
Supporting detail: According to PLOS One (Shahil-Feroz et al., 2026), the project will produce stakeholder reports and policy briefs; AI-enabled quote extraction and code frequency tables make those deliverables reproducible.
Conclusion & Next Steps
Recap: The PLOS One protocol (Shahil-Feroz et al., 2026) provides a clear, participatory blueprint for studying gender-based digital exclusion using CBPR, Urdu transcription, photo-elicitation, role-play, and reflexive thematic analysis.
Actionable next step: Researchers preparing similar projects should plan bilingual transcription and translation, engage gatekeepers early, and predefine how themes will be compared across segments.
If you want to operationalize these steps with AI-enabled tools for transcription, translation, thematic coding, and stakeholder-ready outputs, Try Evidano for free.
Additional resources: Review Evidano features for qualitative research at Evidano features and test Urdu speech workflows at Evidano speech-to-text.
Topics
- gender digital exclusion qualitative analysis
- digital gender inclusion qualitative research
- qualitative study Pakistan digital divide
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