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 is focusing the inequalities in 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 research project has a quantitative and qualitative approach, with a research design that aims to comprehend of the pandemic experience in its complexity, through an interdisciplinary production of knowledge, considering the participation of the populations studied. The group of researchers is composed of people who live in the territories and students and professors of the São Paulo Federal University. The challenge and richness of this study is to deepen a critical reflection, giving visibility to the way of producing life in territories stressed by inequality. Taking into account the production of the common, the research team is focused on strengthening the dialogue with collective organizations that are daily forging ways to survive. It aims to recognize the many challenges that arise there, walking together in this complex process that the pandemic is going through.