Overcoming Limitations for Research During the COVID-19 Pandemic via the Communicative Methodology: The Case of Homelessness During the Spanish Home Confinement

Abstract

Research on homelessness is a field of study in social sciences with a long and solid history. Several pieces of research have let us understand the life experiences and trajectories of these individuals, the challenges that they have faced, and the interventions conducted with them to address this inequality. Nonetheless, the research methodologies in those studies prove short in a situation such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. If we, researchers, are to prioritize social impact, we cannot wait for the pandemic to be overcome to employ those methodologies to investigate homelessness. If so doing, we would meet the needs of homeless people too late. Because social impact is at the forefront, if those methodological resources are not sufficient, then it is necessary to introduce additional ones. This article presents how to address this challenge via the employment of the communicative methodology of research, with the example of a qualitative investigation on how homeless people were attended during the lockdown in Spain in March 2020. The researchers could not meet these individuals on the streets by that time, yet their experiences during the lockdown and how they were being transformed were examined via on-line interviews with individuals voluntarily serving homeless people during home confinement. This methodological innovation in qualitative research is at the service of social impact and can be helpful to researchers investigating vulnerable groups in difficult times.

Walkie-Talkie Maps – A Novel Method to Conduct and Visualize Remote Ethnography

“…However, during the pandemic, our ability to collect qualitative data in traditional methods was limited, leading to the novel way of conducting remote ethnography described in this article. Among other qualitative methods that were developed as a result of the pandemic (Racionero-Plaza et al, 2021; Saltzman et al, 2021; Rahman et al, 2021; Kobakhidze et al, 2021; Kaufmann et al, 2021; Shamsuddin et al, 2021), our contribution is the combination of data collection method, its analysis and its visualization in a web-based platform that tells the city’s story under mandated social distancing restrictions, as a new form of “visual thick description.” In this discussion, we compare the limitations of our methods to that of other qualitative methods that use advanced technology on top or along side with qualitative methods.…”

“…In a similar aim to Lobe et al (2020), when we were unable to use our traditional face-to-face data collection methods, we were forced to develop a novel form of data collection. This challenge was shared by many researchers during COVID-19, and contributed to the formation of a new branch in qualitative methods that use advanced technology to collect and analyze qualitative methods (Kaufmann et al, 2021; Kobakhidze et al, 2021; Racionero-Plaza et al, 2021; Saltzman et al, 2021; Rahman et al, 2021; Shamsuddin et al, 2021). Our unique contribution lays in the combination of data collection, analysis and visualization.…”

Reducing Health Effects on Deceit in Heterosexual Sexual-Affective Relationships: The Impact of the Preventive Socialization Program (PSP)

“…The methodology employed in this study follows a communicative approach which is characterized by the establishment of an egalitarian dialogue between the interviewees and the interviewers [ 24 , 25 ]. Communicative Methodology (CM, hereinafter) starts on the premise that any subject has a capacity for action and communication, and with their expertise from daily life or their professional background can contribute to creating intersubjective knowledge.…”

You Are Not Alone: The (In)Visible Homeless and the Role of Social Workers and Related Professionals

“…In this vein, the CM allows the identification of actions that contribute to overcoming disadvantages and exclusion, through an egalitarian dialogue between the research team and the people being interviewed. Furthermore, it is a methodology used in qualitative research with homeless people [ 21 ]. Through a qualitative design, the implementation and analysis of semi-structured interviews to social workers and related professionals, the objective of this work was to identify their experiences and roles concerning the health information provided to homeless people.…”