Speedy or sloppy?: The opportunities and challenges of rapid qualitative research

Using a variety of examples of fast and slow qualitative research this talk explores the affordances of rapid methods, and help researchers decide if and where to use them in their own work. Methodologies of rapid qualitative research have been around for decades, gaining particular prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic. They spark intense debate about the place of rapid qualitative methods in healthcare research. What questions are they best suited to answer? Is speed a trade-off for quality? Which parts of the qualitative process can and can't be done at pace? If can do research quicker, should we? Dr Anna Dowrick (https://www.phc.ox.ac.uk/team/anna-dowrick) is an interdisciplinary social scientist, spanning medical sociology, medical anthropology and science and technology studies. Her research explores how social injustice can be seen and acted upon through understanding experiences of health and illness, with a view to informing and improving the design of public services. She has used rapid and slow qualitative designs to explore issues including: improving access to support for domestic violence and abuse, food poverty interventions, cancer detection, Covid and Long Covid, and beauty 'injectables'.

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