Report Publish Date: July 21, 2022
This research article describes the ways researchers on a project that documented the experiences of racialized and marginalized groups during the COVID-19 pandemic applied critical race theory to their focus group work.
The methods the researchers used allowed them to build relationships with the communities they were studying and to assess and change their research assumptions as they went along. The researchers say their approaches provided “an effective model for community-engaged qualitative research during a pandemic.”
This paper comes out of the COVID Storytelling Project, a qualitative study from the COVID-19 Task Force on Racism & Equity. The researchers wanted to describe their use of Public Health Critical Race Praxis to design and conduct their study in a way that engaged people with lived experience of racism and discrimination while investigating racism’s impact on their experiences of COVID-19.
The researchers developed what they called a “disaster praxis,” or framework, that lays out the theories and methodologies behind their work, including decolonization, Black feminist theory, racism as a structure, community-engaged participatory research, intersectionality, and rapid assessment. They iterated and reflected often to shape their process and research as they went along. They viewed focus group participants as storytellers, researchers, lifelong learners, and equal partners in the research.
“The stories participants tell about the contemporary and historical conditions of their communities constitute expert knowledge.”
—Bita Amani, Alejandra Cabral, Mienah Z. Sharif, James Huỳnh, Kia Skrine Jeffers, Shelby A. Baptista, Breann McAndrew, Natalie J. Bradford, Patanjali de la Rocha, and Chandra L. Ford, UCLA-Charles R. Drew University COVID-19 Task Force on Racism & Equity
“The crisis of the moment necessitates data to guide the immediate development of solutions; in addition, it is important to generate data that can support longer term equity and justice efforts,” the authors write.
Background: Racism persists, underscoring the need to rapidly document the perspectives and experiences of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) groups as well as marginalized populations (eg, formerly incarcerated people) during pandemics.
Objective: This methods paper offers a model for using Public Health Critical Race Praxis (PHCRP) and related critical methodologies (ie, feminist and decolonizing methods) to inform the conceptualization, methods, and dissemination of qualitative research undertaken in response to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic.
Sample: Using purposive snowball sampling, we identified organizations involved with health equity and social justice advocacy among BIPOC and socially marginalized populations. Focus group participants (N=63) included community members, organizers, activists, and health workers.
Design: We conducted topic-specific (e.g., reproductive justice) and population-specific (e.g., Asian and Pacific Islander) focus groups (N=16 focus groups) in rapid succession using Zoom software.
Methods: A self-reflexive, iterative praxis guided theorization, data collection and analysis. We obtained community input on study design, the semi-structured discussion guide, ethical considerations and dissemination. Applying PHCRP, we assessed our assumptions iteratively. We transcribed each interview verbatim, de-identified the data, then used two distinct qualitative techniques to code and analyze them: thematic analysis to identify unifying concepts that recur across focus groups and narrative analysis to keep each participant's story intact.
Results: The praxis facilitated relationship-building with partners and supported the iterative assessment of assumptions. Logistical constraints included difficulty ensuring the confidentiality of virtual discussions.
Conclusions: These novel approaches provide an effective model for community-engaged qualitative research during a pandemic.
Ethn Dis, July 21, 2022. DOI: 10.18865/ed.32.3.243
Figure 1. Qualitative storytelling framework: rapid assessment of COVID-19-related experiences, perceptions, barriers and recommendations among racially and socially oppressed populations
This study and report was conducted and created by the following people: