This project came out of an early April discussion in a Community Organizing-focused Research class. Students discussed the desire to document student experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and make meaning from them. A smaller group of students convened to lead a participatory action research study that was exploratory in nature.

We collaboratively developed a survey using Google forms. The survey contained a variety of questions that ranged from multiple choice, likert scale, and short-answer. The survey was broken into four distinct sections: demographics, past experiences, present experiences, and anticipations for the future. It was designed to honor the lived experiences of respondents and produce knowledge that would address issues that directly impact our student community.

In April, the survey was distributed to graduating Silberman students via a school Facebook page, email, and direct communication. We aimed to have a sample size of 60 with students— 10% of graduating students—in both Clinical and Community Organizing tracks. Contact information was made available on the survey to encourage further collaboration and engagement with the findings from student respondents.

In May, we began analyzing the multiple modes of data collected. Quantitative questions were grouped, summarized, and discussed by a trio of researchers. Qualitative sections were analyzed by pairs of researchers, who first coded individually and then compared their findings in order to maximize rigor. 

All findings from the survey were shared within the research group and discussed in order to ensure that the group agreed on the stories that were emerging from the data. We were careful to not make assumptions about student’s experiences and analyzed them closely to how they were written. The one exception to this conservative coding was in regards to having a lack of human rights, which we coded for when people discussed larger social systems. As student social workers, it was important for us to be able to capture the role of oppression in student responses.