Responding to Social Distancing in Conducting Stakeholder Workshops in COVID-19 Era

Catherine Tobin, Georgia Mavrommati and Juanita Urban-Rich
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Catherine Tobin: School for the Environment, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA 02125-3393, USA
Georgia Mavrommati: School for the Environment, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA 02125-3393, USA
Juanita Urban-Rich: School for the Environment, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA 02125-3393, USA

Societies, 2020, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-13

Abstract: In March 2020, COVID-19 disrupted global society. Impacts as a result of COVID-19 were seen in all industries, including higher education research, which was paused in order to accommodate newly imposed restrictions. Social science research, specifically stakeholder engagement research, was one area that was potentially impacted given its need for person-to-person interaction. Here, we describe how we successfully adjusted our stakeholder engagement methodology to accommodate for socially distant requirements. Initially, we planned to host in-person workshops to assess stakeholder perceptions of microplastics impacts on oysters in Boston Harbor and coastal Massachusetts using the deliberative multicriteria evaluation (DMCE) methodology. To transfer these workshops online, we used familiar, open-access platforms, Zoom and GoogleDrive, to enable dialogue among participants and evaluate preferences. While modifications to length (5 to 3 h) and order (participants were asked to watch expert videos before their participation date) of the workshop were necessary, most other elements of the methodology remained the same for the online format. The main element that was lacking was the in-person interactions. However, with video conferencing tools available, this element was not completely lost.

Keywords: deliberative valuation; informed decision making; public engagement; COVID-19; stakeholder engagement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 P P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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