Reflections About Conducting Qualitative Research During Pandemic Times as Part of an Extension Project in the Rural Community of San Ramón de La Virgen de Sarapiquí, Costa Rica

Abstract

Conducting qualitative research has drastically changed during this pandemic. Not only have conceptualizing and designing become challenging practices, but also dealing with the processes of data collection and analysis have presented challenges. The extension project titled “Diagnosis of the linguistic needs of San Ramón de La Virgen de Sarapiquí,” aimed at collecting qualitative data during 2020 to determine the linguistic needs of the community. The main goal was to contribute to the design of an exclusive English Program to empower community members to better deal with their entrepreneurial projects based on rural tourism. The data of this exploratory study were collected and triangulated through a focus group interview, an online survey, and document gathering, and used thematic analysis to organize the linguistic needs. WebQDA was used to conduct digital semantic coding for the data collected during the focus interview. As the study took place amid the pandemic, some methodological adaptations took place to carry out data collection under the “new normality.” The extension group reflected and designed specific protocols for the community members to engage them in technology use and present the results as comprehensive descriptions of the linguistic needs of the rural community. Nowadays, qualitative research should become a more reflective practice, and the participants—as well as their contexts—must be considered, as this pandemic is changing the way qualitative research is perceived and conducted.