Doing social research that meets the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWA/HIVS).
Int Conf AIDS 1993 Jun 6-11; 9:131 (abstract no. WS-D28-4) Smith GW, Mykhalovskiy E; Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Toronto.
In this presentation we advance a new research practice for doing social science. Most AIDS research, whether quantitative or qualitative, is organized and directed by governments, universities, and professional researchers. The questions addressed are those relevant to these institutional sites. They are formulated in terms of explanatory theories in the social sciences. In turn, the results of this research are used to further elaborate these theories. Not surprisingly, the knowledge produced is not oriented to the everyday needs of PLWA/HIVs. Instead, it is primarily used by these institutions to manage and direct the lives of PLWA/HIVs. This presentation describes a research practice that produces knowledge primarily for community activists. This is made possible by following procedures that organize and locate research in a new way. To begin with, PLWA/HIVs enter into the research as active participants. It is designed from where they are located. Their day-to-day experiences serve as the basis for devising the research problematic. Data is produced in the interaction of researchers with informants, who are recognized as knowledgeable about the local settings in which they live and work. Analysis takes the form of "discovering" the social relations producing these local experiences. The writing up of the research aims at describing how people's lives are organized. The research is written up in an accessible way. The aim is to create a text that is useful for organizing the response of PLWA/HIVs and their supporters to the AIDS crisis.
Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Health Services Needs and Demand, HIV Infections, HIV Seropositivity, Social Sciences, Methionine, Research, HIV Antibodies, Research Support, psychology, economics, ICA9 930606
WSD284
