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. 2020 Dec;30(14):2192-2204.
doi: 10.1177/1049732320951526. Epub 2020 Aug 31.

Carrying Out Rapid Qualitative Research During a Pandemic: Emerging Lessons From COVID-19

Cecilia Vindrola-Padros  1   2 , Georgia Chisnall  1 , Silvie Cooper  1 , Anna Dowrick  3 , Nehla Djellouli  1 , Sophie Mulcahy Symmons  1 , Sam Martin  4 , Georgina Singleton  1   2 , Samantha Vanderslott  4 , Norha Vera  5 , Ginger A Johnson  6
Affiliations

Carrying Out Rapid Qualitative Research During a Pandemic: Emerging Lessons From COVID-19

Cecilia Vindrola-Padros et al. Qual Health Res. 2020 Dec.

Abstract

Social scientists have a robust history of contributing to better understandings of and responses to disease outbreaks. The implementation of qualitative research in the context of infectious epidemics, however, continues to lag behind in the delivery, credibility, and timeliness of findings when compared with other research designs. The purpose of this article is to reflect on our experience of carrying out three research studies (a rapid appraisal, a qualitative study based on interviews, and a mixed-methods survey) aimed at exploring health care delivery in the context of COVID-19. We highlight the importance of qualitative data to inform evidence-based public health responses and provide a way forward to global research teams who wish to implement similar rapid qualitative studies. We reflect on the challenges of setting up research teams, obtaining ethical approval, collecting and analyzing data in real-time and sharing actionable findings.

Keywords: United Kingdom; anthropology; illness and disease; infectious; interviews; medical; methodology; qualitative; research design.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Process used for iterative data collection, analysis, and sharing of findings. Note. HCW = health care worker; RAP = rapid assessment procedure.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Example of infographic used to advertise Study 1.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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