Understanding what happens and acting upon it: ethical, legal, and socio-economic dimensions of the COVID-19 outbreak from the citizens' perspective

social sciences - In this rapid response research project, we use a mixed-methods approach to document, preserve, & share ephemeral data on the social dimensions of an emergent outbreak, and to translate this knowledge into tangible countermeasures that can aid in minimizing the negative impacts of the disease. Our mixed-methods approach includes (1) a national, representative, repeated measures survey of up to 1,050 German households (3.5% of 30,000 households contacted), (2) follow-up interviews across Germany (n = 90 over 3 intervals), (3) a diary method to understand the nuances of everyday life under dramatically new conditions, (4) an online ethnography on Twitter to understand how a range of public health & affective content is received/communicated by diverse audiences (5) content analysis of mainstream media/public health releases. This approach will help us to understand a range of research questions covering the ethical, legal & socio-economic dimensions of the COVID-19 outbreak, including how individuals & communities perceive risks and protective behaviours related to COVID-19 with regards to individual human rights, pro-social ethical duties & their own socio-economic situations; how public understandings of the disease evolve as a result of information production, reception and internalisation processes; how these vary across diverse populations and demographics; how German citizens are experiencing stigmatization and negative outcomes. The results will inform discussions pertaining to what local knowledge can be mobilized to help, & how pro-social behaviours can be fostered.