Let’s start our tale about researching in a pandemic with the beginning of a story:Sam has been keeping in touch with friends online during the COVID-19 Lockdown, and learned that some of them are going to meet up in the big local park, just after dark, to hang out and have a drink… They’re encouraging Sam to come along…We invite you to imagine how you might tell the rest of this story, or indeed to go ahead and write it. We ask you to then reflect on what emotions this scenario evokes for you. The research we describe in this chapter stemmed from emotional responses – personally felt, and witnessed – to a global crisis, and specifically to an unprecedented ‘lockdown’ of normal life. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK and Āotearoa/New Zealand (NZ) went into full lockdown at the same time (24 and 25 March 2020, respectively). The research we describe took root in several emotion-filled (virtual) conversations related to media coverage of high-profile public figures breaching the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown rules. We also witnessed and discussed friends and strangers online justifying why it would be okay for them to bend or break lockdown rules, alongside people urging others not to rush to judgement. Our emotional responses reflected many experiences and positions. We were personally significantly impacted: one of us was shielding (isolated at home) due to health risk; one was ordered home from overseas by their employer, disrupting several months of planned work and travel; and one has three teenage children whose lives have been upended by the sudden closure of schools/universities, with huge impact on their wellbeing.
As researchers continue to adapt, conduct and design their research in the presence of COVID-19, new opportunities to connect research creativity and ethics have opened up. Researchers around the world have responded in diverse, thoughtful and creative ways–adapting data collection methods, fostering researcher and community resilience, and exploring creative research methods.This book, part of a series of three Rapid Responses, explores dimensions of creativity and ethics, highlighting their connectedness. It has three parts: the first covers creative approaches to researching. The second considers concerns around research ethics and ethics more generally, and the final part addresses different ways of approaching creativity and ethics through collaboration and co-creation.The other two books focus on Response and Reassessment, and Care and Resilience. Together they help academic, applied and practitioner-researchers worldwide adapt to the new challenges COVID-19 brings.Part of a series of three, this book explores dimensions of creativity and ethics. It has three parts: the first covers creative approaches to researching. The second considers concerns around research ethics and ethics more generally, and the final part addresses different ways of approaching creativity and ethics through collaboration.