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This project explores how children and youth below the age of 18 sought to help others during the COVID-19 pandemic. We used the data included in this publication to answer research questions such as “How did children in the U.S. help others and themselves during the COVID-19 pandemic?” and “What issues were children in the U.S. concerned about during the COVID-19 pandemic?” This project includes a data dictionary and a dataset that summarizes a unique collection of 115 news articles focused on the helping behaviors and key concerns of children in the U.S. during the pandemic. The articles appeared in print or online news sources between 2020 and 2023. We searched for media coverage using terms such as “kids,” “help,” “volunteer,” “actions,” “pandemic,” and “COVID-19.” Over time we refined and added additional search terms based on emergent themes such as “raising money,” “making personal protective equipment,” and “helping with homework.” We limited our searches by language (English), geography (the United States), and time (an article had to be published between January 2020, when the virus was first detected in the U.S., and November 2023, when we ended our searches for the dataset). When we identified news coverage that fit our definition of helping behaviors, we saved a PDF of the article (all PDFs are available upon request from the PI). Information included in this dataset is summarized as follows: (1) article citation and link; (2) article synopsis; (3) information on the child or children featured in the article; (4) summary of key helping behaviors or other actions taken by children during the pandemic; (5) information on who children were trying to help or what type of change they were attempting to influence; (6) quotes from children or youth; and (7) notations of photos, videos, or links to additional resources. The envisioned audience for this data includes social science and public health researchers, journalists, and policy makers with an interest in children and the pandemic, specifically, or disasters and altruism, more broadly.
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The 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic and Its Corresponding Data Boon: Issues With Pandemic-Related Data From Criminal Justice Organizations
Public organizations, including institutions in the U.S. criminal justice (CJ) system, have been rapidly releasing information pertaining to COVID-19. Even CJ institutions typically reticent to share information, like private prisons, have released vital COVID-19 information. The boon of available pandemic-related data, however, is not without problems. Unclear conceptualizations, stakeholders’ influence on data collection and release, and a lack of experience creating public dashboards on health data are just a few of the issues plaguing CJ institutions surrounding releasing COVID-19 data. In this article, we detail issues that institutions in each arm of the CJ system face when releasing pandemic-related data. We conclude with a set of recommendations for researchers seeking to use the abundance of publicly available data on the effects of the pandemic.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2032747
- PAR ID:
- 10339107
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice
- Volume:
- 37
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 1043-9862
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 543 to 568
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1177/10439862211027993
