blog
Researching poverty during COVID-19
Conducting research on sensitive and traumatic topics during a pandemic
Sep 15, 2020
Alison Gregory
Research Fellow at the Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol
Emma Williamson
Reader in Gender Based Violence and Head of the Centre for Gender and Violence Research at the University of Bristol
Maria Barnes
Senior Research Associate at the Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol.
_This blog was originally posted on Transforming Society_*
What does participatory research mean to our community, whether in a pandemic or not?
Sep 8, 2020
Tracey Herrington
Manager, Thrive Teesside
Thrive Teesside works tirelessly to ensure the voice, skills, knowledge and expertise of low income communities is respected, listened to and afforded the opportunity to work alongside others to affect positive change. The current pandemic has highlighted some specific barriers to meaningful participation, but I hasten to say, that none of these issues are new but are merely amplified.
Zoom: from pub quizzes to social research? Reflections on internet-mediated video interviewing during the coronavirus pandemic
Aug 31, 2020
Lilly Monk
Social Research (Social Policy) MA student at the University of Birmingham
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the use of online video conferencing software has been revered for its capability of bringing people together. The widespread organising of pub quizzes, family catch-ups and work meetings has led video-conferencing host Zoom to become a household name. But can Zoom be used for social research? As an MA student researching the undergraduate student experience of food insecurity, the current context of pandemic caused me to refocus my data collection from face-to-face interviewing to online methods. Reflecting on my experiences of using Zoom, I highlight the pros, cons and necessary adjustments I’ve made to maintain data quality and ensure ethical standards.
Researching remotely: using mapping and photography to think about space and place remotely
Aug 22, 2020
Charlotte Gallagher Squires
Research Assistant at the Centre for Food Policy
Anna Isaacs
Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Food Policy
When the aim of your research is to engage with lived experiences, what happens when a global pandemic means you can no longer share the same physical space as your research participants?
Could a radical Ethics of Reciprocity help make research more relevant to action to reduce poverty and inequality?
Aug 15, 2020
Jennie Popay
Professor of Sociology and Public Health, Lancaster University
The repeated claims that COVID19 has revealed social inequities in the UK is irritating. Like the ‘left behind_’ narrative it gives people permission to think (if not say), “whoops we didn’t see that before”. This is clearly not true! The pandemic and responses to it are exacerbating inequalities, speeding up the passage from poor lives to poor health and, for some, premature mortality. But social inequalities and their impacts – with their intersecting dimensions of class, race, ethnicity, sexuality, disability, age, etc - have always been on public display: in the dramatically contrasting neighbourhoods in cities; the makeshift “beds” for homeless people lining our streets; the Windrush scandal and the Grenfell Tower fire, the burgeoning food banks and now ubiquitous food collection boxes at supermarkets. They are present in schools, the NHS, housing agencies, job centres and other public services. They have never been _invisible just deliberately unseen.
“Hang on Stephen”: Including migrant voices in anti-poverty research
Aug 4, 2020
Andy Jolly
Research Associate at the Institute for Community Research and Development (ICRD) at the University of Wolverhampton
“Hang on Stephen. Why aren’t they eligible for Universal Credit or Employment Support?”
Monitoring and tackling poverty during Covid-19
Jul 28, 2020
Iain Porter
Policy and Partnerships Manager (social security)
The coronavirus storm and its economic slipstream has caused unprecedented damage at lightning speed to people’s livelihoods, pulling many families under. The social security system has a vital role as an anchor in stormy times and the Government swiftly strengthened it with a £20 per week uplift to Universal Credit’s standard allowance.
Disconnected sharing and emotional labour: Early impressions of researching Welfare from a (Social) Distance
Jul 21, 2020
David Robertshaw
Welfare at a (Social) Distance
- “Sorry, I forgot about that bit so hang on, let me start again…”
‘We’re not working from home, we’re at home during a pandemic trying to work’: moving participatory research online during the coronavirus crisis
Jul 16, 2020
Kate Summers
LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methodology, London School of Economics
I’ve seen this sentiment across social media: we’re not working from home right now, instead we’re at home during a pandemic trying to work. The saying articulates the position people find themselves in, as personal and professional life ebbs into one another. In many ways this mingling of the ‘personal’ and the ‘professional’ is not a new conundrum for qualitative researchers, and in particular for participatory research. Research of this nature is already highly personal for those involved in it. Nevertheless, a global pandemic throws up an entirely new context to navigate these blurred boundaries. I want to use this blog to reflect on The Commission on Social Security, led by Experts by Experience, a participatory research project that has pivoted to working totally remotely.
Rapid response social research in a pandemic – opportunism or activism?
Jul 13, 2020
Dr Annie Irvine
Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of York
Very soon after the reality of the pandemic hit home, research councils and other social science funders began to issue rapid response calls for research on the social and economic impacts of Covid-19. My first response to this was mixture of defensiveness and frustration: “The impact? It’s going to be shit! We know it’s going to be shit! Why do we need more research telling us how shit it’s going to be?!”
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Covid Realities
is a collaboration between the Universities of
York and Birmingham, and
Child Poverty Action Group. The project has been funded by the Nuffield Foundation
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