Participative research methodology: paths to analyse the experiences of vulnerable populations during the Covid-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

This paper presents an ongoing investigation that analyzes life experiences, processes and systemic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and examines the measures and actions to prevent, contain and respond to it. The study focuses on the inequalities of life experiences of the pandemic in populations that live in fourteen vulnerable territories of the Metropolitan Area of São Paulo and the city of Santos (Brazil). The group of researchers is composed of people who live in those territories and students and professors of the Federal University of São Paulo. The research design focuses on comprehending the experience of the pandemic in its complexity, through an interdisciplinary production of scientific knowledge that is socially referenced and committed to the participation of the populations studied. The field research in each territory, which counts with the participation of local organizations, is producing a critical reflection on the experience of the pandemic and giving visibility to the centrality of social networks weaved by local actors. This path allows us to understand the ways of producing life in territories stressed by inequality and to recognize their challenges. To go through this complex process crossed by the pandemic is the challenge and the richness of this study.

KEYWORDS
Coronavirus infections; Social inequity; Social vulnerability; Sociocultural territory; Community-based participatory research