4 - Digital Divide in the use of Skype for Qualitative Data Collection: Implications for Academic Research
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 March 2021
Summary
Introduction
COVID-19 has changed our lives in untold ways, requiring creative solutions in academic research. The pandemic has exposed the gaps in our health systems in unprecedented ways, challenged some prejudices and beliefs and, most importantly, made researchers think and collect data in more inventive ways. With physical distancing recommendations, information technology has become more central in our lives, and for research. This chapter is framed around conversations between the two of us, Deborah Ikhile and Almighty Nchafack, both women African PhD researchers studying in the United Kingdom, about the digital divide in accessing online technologies for academic research in Uganda and the United Kingdom. We focus our discussion on the challenges of the digital divide in these two countries, especially with regard to how this relates to the socio-economic status of research participants.
An overview of our studies
Almighty: Within the framework of Scaling-up Packages of Interventions for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Selected Sites in Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa (SPICES) project, my study focuses on knowledge translation for cardiovascular health promotion in Nottingham, UK. I am exploring how the places in which people live and work in Nottingham (the UK, a high-income country) influence their understanding of heart health and how this, in turn, affects how well cardiovascular health promotion knowledge is translated.
Deborah: Using a socio-ecological approach, my recently completed study focused on examining the primary health care capacity for early breast cancer detection in Uganda. Uganda is a low-income country in sub-Saharan Africa (World Bank, nd–a) with a high rate of poverty and inequality between urban and rural settings (World Bank, nd–b). My study setting was a rural community within the central region of Uganda and the participants were a mix of elite key informants and community health workers.
Almighty: Although my research is situated within a highincome country, part of my sample is drawn from areas of high deprivation in Nottingham. Deborah and I recognize that our studies bear similarities with regards to socio-economic disparities associated with both study settings.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Researching in the Age of COVID-19Volume I: Response and Reassessment, pp. 40 - 50Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2020