Interpretive Methods as a Window into Individual Experiences and the Pandemic

This chapter aligns with an interpretive qualitative research project. It discusses the development of this project, the site, the participants, the researchers, the data collection, and the data analysis. The chapter offers researchers and practitioners the opportunity to further conceptualize the importance of individuals' lived experiences, especially during tumultuous times. It demonstrates throughout the findings that the contextual variables are important in understanding how students, staff, and faculty experienced the organizational and societal changes that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March of 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Utah elected to close campus to all non-essential personnel and move all classes online when students returned from spring break. It acknowledges the mental health toll associated with conducting research during a pandemic. Members of the research team were forced to confront their own feelings about the pandemic while interpreting those of others. The researchers tries to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the people in higher education, and as people in higher education who are impacted by the pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)