Message posted on 12/10/2021

CFA: Rapid research in action

Dear network members,

Please see a call for abstracts for an edited volume on rapid research belo= w.

Thanks,

Cecilia

Call for abstracts

Rapid research in action: Lessons from the field

Rapid research and evaluation are now commonly used in a wide range of fiel= ds to ensure study findings are provided in a timely manner. A recent revie= w we carried out on the use of rapid ethnographies in healthcare showed a n= otable increase in the use of rapid ethnographies in the last five years an= d their expansion beyond the social sciences (e.g. now becoming more popula= r in nursing and medicine) (Vindrola-Padros and Vindrola-Padros 2017). Eval= uations of interventions in healthcare as well as other sectors have also r= elied on rapid approaches and formative research designs to ensure findings= can be delivered within a timeframe most useful for informing decision-mak= ing (Vindrola-Padros et al. 2020).

Despite widespread interest in this topic, there are limited reflections on= the daily challenges of carrying out rapid research and evaluations. This = book seeks to address this gap by analysing the everyday experiences of des= igning and implementing rapid studies in a wide range of sectors and global= settings.

We are interested in chapters that can help answer the following questions:

  • What are the main challenges of designing and implementing rapid stud= ies? How are these challenges shaped by time pressures, local contexts, res= ources of the team, etc.?
  • Are there challenges that researchers/research teams are unable to ov= ercome? Why?
  • What are the common changes researchers make throughout rapid studies= and why are these changes made?
  • What are the contributions of rapid research and evaluation?
  • What are some the lessons research teams have learned while designing= and implementing rapid studies?

We will prioritise chapters that draw from empirical studies where the rese= arch team engaged in some form of data collection (fieldwork) and those whe= re members of the research team had different backgrounds (e.g., different = disciplines, lived experiences, inter-agency coordination, etc.).

About the editors

Dr Cecilia Vindrola-Padros is a medical anthropologist interested in applie= d health research and the development of rapid approaches for research. Cec= ilia works as a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Targeted Interv= ention, UCL and as a Social Scientist at the NIAA Health Services Research = Centre (HSRC), Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA). She works across fiv= e interdisciplinary teams, applying anthropological theories and methods to= study and improve healthcare delivery in the UK and abroad. Cecilia has wr= itten extensively on the use of rapid qualitative research and currently Co= -Directs the Rapid Research Evaluation and Appraisal Lab (RREAL) with Dr Gi= nger Johnson. She is the past director of the Qualitative Health Research N= etwork (QHRN) and a Fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA).

Dr. Ginger Johnson is a medical anthropologist who has conducted research i= n response to emerging global public health threats in East, West, Central = and Southern Africa, North and Southeast Asia, and in the Middle East and N= orth Africa on behalf of the World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations Chi= ldren=92s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Internati= onal Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), United Nati= ons Population Fund (UNFPA), Population Services International (PSI), Unite= d Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Institute of Tropical= Medicine (ITM), and M=E9decins Sans Fronti=E8res (MSF). She was embedded i= n West Africa with the IFRC during the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak and has add= itionally been involved in conducting research on subsequent public health = emergencies of international concern such as Zika in Latin America, Ebola i= n DRC, polio in Pakistan and the COVID-19 pandemic.Ginger currently Co-Dire= cts RREAL with Dr Cecilia Vindrola-Padros.

Chapter abstracts

If you are interested in contributing a chapter for this edited volume, ple= ase send an abstract (500 words max) to Cecilia Vindrola (c.vindrola@ucl.ac= .uk) and Ginger A. Johnson (johnson.ginger@gma= il.com) by 1 November 2021. Please include= a list of authors and affiliations.

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