Expecting the unexpected: field research in post-disaster settings

Mukherji, Anuradha; Ganapati, N. Emel; Rahill, Guitele J.

doi:10.1007/s11069-014-1105-8

Cited by 22 publications

(27 citation statements)

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“…Conducting a quick response project is a time limited, often ambiguous research activity in pursuit of ephemeral information, necessitating the rapid development of a research proposal that would include developing and vetting informed and poignant research questions, as well as credible research budgets involving key partners (Kendra and Gregory 2015). Conducting quick response research after disaster requires expedited review processes and advanced planning to obtain ethics approval (Mukherji et al 2014). Kendra and Gregory (2015) note the crucial element of developing reliable funding and research administration models for executing multidisciplinary post-disaster research requires institutional support.…”

Section: Quick Response Disaster Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quick Response Disaster Research: Opportunities and Challenges for a New Funding Program

Oulahen

Vogel

Gouett-Hanna

2020

Int J Disaster Risk Sci

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Quick response research conducted by social scientists in the aftermath of a disaster can reveal important findings about hazards and their impacts on communities. Research to collect perishable data, or data that will change or be lost over time, immediately following disaster has been supported for decades by two programs in the United States, amassing a collection of quick response studies and an associated research culture. That culture is currently being challenged to better address power imbalances between researchers and disaster-affected participants. Until recently, Canada has not had a quick response grant program. In order to survey the state of knowledge and draw from it in helping to shape the new program in Canada, this article systematically analyzes the body of research created by the two US programs. The results reveal a wide-ranging literature: the studies are theoretically, conceptually, topically, and methodologically quite unique to one another. This diversity might appropriately reflect the nature of disasters, but the finding that many studies are not building on previous quick response research and other insights indicate opportunities for how a new grant program in Canada can contribute to growing a robust subdiscipline of disaster research.

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Section: Quick Response Disaster Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quick Response Disaster Research: Opportunities and Challenges for a New Funding Program

Oulahen

Vogel

Gouett-Hanna

2020

Int J Disaster Risk Sci

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“…High-quality research conducted during or in the aftermath of natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods or hurricanes can produce knowledge about the health impact of these events and lead to improvements in the planning and implementation of disaster relief and reconstruction interventions [ 1 – 4 ]. The evidence base for disaster response remains limited, however [ 5 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Challenge of Timely, Responsive and Rigorous Ethics Review of Disaster Research: Views of Research Ethics Committee Members

et al. 2016

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BackgroundResearch conducted following natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods or hurricanes is crucial for improving relief interventions. Such research, however, poses ethical, methodological and logistical challenges for researchers. Oversight of disaster research also poses challenges for research ethics committees (RECs), in part due to the rapid turnaround needed to initiate research after a disaster. Currently, there is limited knowledge available about how RECs respond to and appraise disaster research. To address this knowledge gap, we investigated the experiences of REC members who had reviewed disaster research conducted in low- or middle-income countries.MethodsWe used interpretive description methodology and conducted in-depth interviews with 15 respondents. Respondents were chairs, members, advisors, or coordinators from 13 RECs, including RECs affiliated with universities, governments, international organizations, a for-profit REC, and an ad hoc committee established during a disaster. Interviews were analyzed inductively using constant comparative techniques.ResultsThrough this process, three elements were identified as characterizing effective and high-quality review: timeliness, responsiveness and rigorousness. To ensure timeliness, many RECs rely on adaptations of review procedures for urgent protocols. Respondents emphasized that responsive review requires awareness of and sensitivity to the particularities of disaster settings and disaster research. Rigorous review was linked with providing careful assessment of ethical considerations related to the research, as well as ensuring independence of the review process.ConclusionBoth the frequency of disasters and the conduct of disaster research are on the rise. Ensuring effective and high quality review of disaster research is crucial, yet challenges, including time pressures for urgent protocols, exist for achieving this goal. Adapting standard REC procedures may be necessary. However, steps should be taken to ensure that ethics review of disaster research remains diligent and thorough.

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“…Performing field research and coping physically (see Jokinen and Caretta in press) and emotionally with changing and challenging working and living conditions (see also Mukherji, Ganapati, and Rahill 2014) are conditions sine qua non for becoming a geographer. However, geographers often leave out the emotional impact that ethnographic work has on them and how it, in turn, affects their research (see Widdowfield 2000;Heller et al 2011;Jones and Ficklin 2012;Smith 2016).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The topic of emotional engagement has only recently been examined in geography, mostly in relation to researchers' encounters with local people and struggles caused by culturally diverse research conditions (e.g., Jones and Ficklin 2012;Woon 2013;Mukherji, Ganapati, and Rahill 2014;Smith 2016). Although feminist scholars claim that emotional and methodological openness can enhance the researcher's respectability (Laliberté and Schurr 2016), geographers prefer to stick to consolidated methodologies and rarely dwell on the emotional dimensions of the research process.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Conflating Privilege and Vulnerability: A Reflexive Analysis of Emotions and Positionality in Postgraduate Fieldwork

Caretta

Jokinen

2016

The Professional Geographer

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Expecting the unexpected: field research in post-disaster settings

Cited by 22 publications

References 45 publications

Quick Response Disaster Research: Opportunities and Challenges for a New Funding Program

Quick Response Disaster Research: Opportunities and Challenges for a New Funding Program

The Challenge of Timely, Responsive and Rigorous Ethics Review of Disaster Research: Views of Research Ethics Committee Members

Conflating Privilege and Vulnerability: A Reflexive Analysis of Emotions and Positionality in Postgraduate Fieldwork

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