Anticipating Needs: How Adopting Trauma‐Informed Methodologies During COVID‐19 Influenced Our Work Connecting Frontline Workers to Temporary Housing

This case study argues that all research should be trauma‐informed research. It asserts that because researchers cannot anticipate everything about research participants’ needs, histories, and context, taking an approach that assumes all participants are more likely than not to have experienced trauma should be the paradigm for researchers. Even before receiving formal training in trauma‐informed research, incorporating methodologies from trauma‐informed research can make all researchers more human‐centered. From March–April 2020, researchers from Airbnb conducted research to help launch a program that provided free or discounted accommodations to COVID‐19 frontline workers: Frontline Stays. The researchers needed to conduct research with both frontline workers and Airbnb hosts who were temporarily opening their homes to them. Some of the researchers had received formal training in trauma‐informed research. Others did not have the training, but recognized that it was important to understand and apply some of the principles for the Frontline Stays work. For this research project, it was clear why the researchers should assume that research participants had a history of trauma or were currently experiencing trauma. But COVID‐19 was also a catalyst for the researchers to rethink what their baseline approach to conducting research should be. The case study outlines the trauma‐informed methodologies the researchers used and discusses how this impacted their research methods and approach with stakeholders.