WEEK 3 –Try to find direction.
Intensive Days
This week I experienced my first intensive days, which were very dense but interesting. I found it so interesting to know others’ opinions about a certain topic. Everyone shared their ideas and experiences to deepen others’ understanding, which makes me feel very moved.
New Direction
Well, because of the two intensive days, I found my great interest in the inequality of health. And by reading much literature, I gradually have a clearer research direction for the project now. I hope to focus on the inequality issues caused by China’s current epidemic prevention policy, especially regarding mental health. By reading the literature I learned that the epidemic has created additional problems, such as the uncertainty of social isolation which has had a serious impact on the mental health of many people. I would like to know How to mitigate the detrimental side-effects of infection control measures on the physical and mental health of urban dwellers.
However, this is only my preliminary idea at the moment and there are still quite a few questions about the feasibility. I am confused that how to prove the impact on people’s mental health, whether by summarising research data from the past literature or by finding the latest data myself. Maybe I should try both.
So I think I need to read more related research literature next few weeks and try to find related and concise data. Besides, I need to narrow down my research topic, and it seems too wide for me now.
Thank you for reading here. I hope everyone will have a great time next week.
Hi Qinyi, I feel looking at the mental health in China under current COVID-prevention policies would be a really rich area to examine. A couple of things I’ve noticed anecdotally: 1) talking to people who were in Shanghai during the big lockdown, they do seem to harbor insecurities and worries that I don’t notice in people who live in cities that haven’t had such dramatic lockdowns, 2) the policies have driven major behavioral changes, for example, people are more hesitant to travel far over worries that they might end up in quarantine.
What about reaching out to non-profit organizations that run mental health services or hotlines in China? They may already collect some form of data and might appreciate having a student interested in analyzing it to look for ways that they can improve their services.
Hi Theresa! Thank you very much. Thanks for your ideas and suggestion which are very helpful. And I will think over them carefully. If I make some progress, I will share with you~
HI Qinyi, very interesting to read about your experience of the intensive days and your initial ideas for a project. I understand your confusion and uncertainty about how to “prove” such conditions of people’s mental health. Still, maybe it’s less about proving and more about describing/exploring how people have experienced increased poor mental health? Maybe qualitative ethnographic or netnographic research might be a suitable approach?
Thank you so much,Cajsa. Your suggestion is so helpful that makes me feel clearer about the project. Maybe becuase I am familiar with many quantitive methods to research, I would ingore qualitative methods. However, so many thanks. I will try to combine this suggestion with my futher exploration.
Hi Qinyi! I think the situation of people who get unemployed because of infection history is also a problem related to mental health under the pandemic. I also recommend this website (https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/404-articles-archive) for access to the banned archives.
Thank you so much, will. This website is very useful, and I will try to focus on the people who get unemployed because of infection history. Maybe they will be a special group of people about my project.
Hi Qinyi, this sounds like a great project idea to explore. One question popped into my mind- given that China is such a big country, will you be focussing on particularly provinces or will your scope be at a national scale? Have you also got any ideas as to which medium you’d like to deliver your project through?