Community Centered Research During Times of Crisis
Justin Zimmerman (University at Albany, State University of New York)
Good research on cities hinges on collecting accurate information from diverse groups of people. For instance, the use of focus groups, interviews, and ethnographies can teach us a great deal about the nuances of urban communities (LeCompte 2010; Weiss 1993; Rogers 2013). This can help researchers and policymakers think through important issues such as trust, cooperation, and the needs of a community that may not be reflected through survey research alone. My own research began with a single question: How do Black Chicagoans in Bronzeville, Greater Englewood, and Calumet Heights interact with institutions and neighbors they distrust to find solutions to police violence and community violence? This type of question requires deliberation, follow-up, and elaboration. In short, a qualitative research approach. Yet, what happens when a crisis shakes the ability to meet and build relationships with community members?
Drawing on my experience recruiting, observing, and interviewing during the Covid-19 pandemic, I discuss how researchers can build trust and rapport with hard-to-reach community members. Hard-to-reach populations are often characterized by impoverishment and vulnerability (Khoury 2024; Tourangeau 2014; Freimuth and Mettger 1990), especially when discussing Black communities in cities. Yet hard-to-reach populations are a wider group of people during a time of crisis. Who – and under what circumstances – a community is “hard-to-reach” is ever-changing during a crisis.
As a researcher, I chose to shift how I conducted interviews and focus groups. This included a rethinking of how to recruit and maintain relationships with community members. I moved my interviews and focus groups from in-person to virtual. To make this transition smoother, I mailed Kindle Fire tablets to community members to allow for group and individual discussions without the dangers of further spreading Covid-19. In the interests of recruiting, I realized that though social distancing was necessary during this crisis, community members still had their own habits and comfort levels. Some community members felt more comfortable in a virtual setting throughout their interactions, while others craved and required time to speak to me face to face. This meant that risk and safety were a negotiation between me, the researcher, and the participants, while still adhering to the shifting public health orders. These extended discussions were one part of a bigger question about how to properly represent and serve communities of interest.
Community building was important to both community members and myself as the researcher. I maintained open dialogue with community members, shared how far along I was with the project, and had numerous discussions about what the findings could do to build lasting change towards more trusting, safer communities. These discussions included providing community members with information about my findings, which they could take back to their communities. These actions helped me maintain trust, community, and conversation with those community members.
The importance of hearing from the community during a crisis cannot be overstated and the use of qualitative research will rely on developing the skills necessary to find and recruit community members in such situations. Increased law enforcement abuses, continuous infectious disease epidemics and pandemics have shown that ideal conditions cannot be expected. Rather, researchers must be able to cultivate relationships with community members who may be hard to reach, using flexibility, accommodations, and continuous open communication.
Read the full UAR article here.
References
Freimuth, Vicki S., and Wendy Mettger. 1990. “Is There a Hard-to-Reach Audience?” Public Health Reports 105 (3): 232–38.
Khoury, Rana B. 2024. “Sampling Hard-to-Reach Populations.” In Doing Good Qualitative Research, 122–31. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
LeCompte, Margaret. 2010. “Designing and Conducting Ethnographic Research: An Introduction.” In What Is Ethnography. AltaMira Press.
Rogers, Reuel. 2013. “Using Interviews to Understand Racial Group Identity and Political Behavior.” In Interview Research in Political Science, Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
Tourangeau, Roger. 2014. “Defining Hard-to-Survey Populations.” In Hard-to-Survey Populations, edited by Roger Tourangeau, Brad Edwards, Timothy P. Johnson, Kirk M. Wolter, and Nancy Bates, 1st ed., 3–20. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139381635.003.
Weiss, Robert S. 1993. Learning from Strangers: The Art and Method of Qualitative Interview Studies. New York, New York: The Free Press.
Justin Zimmerman is an assistant professor of American politics at UAlbany. His research aims to understand how Black Chicagoans work with institutions and neighbors they distrust to pursue common policy goals. His research on distrust and coalition building was recently published in Politics, Groups, and Identities and was awarded the best article for 2025. Justin received his PhD from Northwestern University in 2023.