Open AccessCollecting qualitative data during a pandemic
Author(s) -
David J. Silverman
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
communication and medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1613-3625
pISSN - 1612-1783
DOI - 10.1558/cam.19256
Subject(s) - pandemic , context (archaeology) , covid-19 , interview , field (mathematics) , data science , qualitative research , qualitative property , psychology , computer science , sociology , medicine , history , virology , social science , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , mathematics , archaeology , outbreak , anthropology , pure mathematics , machine learning
The claims of qualitative research are often based on being physically present in a setting and the ability that gives to record interactional features unavailable to quantitative research. In a medical context, this can involve a number of scenarios which include observing medical encounters or interviewing patients.The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has made such co-presence impractical. This short paper discusses ways around this problem. It also demonstrates that, in a digital age, being ‘present’ in the ‘field’ needs to be reconsidered.