# DATASET TITLE Data for the Community Pandemic Accounts Project ## AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS Daria Orlowska, MSLIS - Western Michigan University Susan Steuer, PhD - Western Michigan University Sharon Carlson, PhD - Western Michigan University ## MAIN CONTACT Correspondence concerning this dataset should be addressed to Daria Orlowska, daria.orlowska@wmich.edu For questions about the de-identified collection releasing in 2025, please contact the Zhang Legacy Collections Center at arch-collect@wmich.edu ## LANGUAGE English ## FILE ORGANIZATION This dataset contains 2 files: *1 README file (TXT) *1 Data files (CSV) ## SHARING This dataset is formally licensed under CC BY 4.0, which requires a citation for reuse: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ## PROJECT PURPOSE On March 10, the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in Michigan. Since then, there have been many changes to everyday life, such as the "Stay Home, Stay Safe" executive order urging Michiganders to limit contact with others. The University Libraries conducted a data collection/history project that serves to understand how our regional community has been coping and adapting to these changes. The University community’s personal memories and experiences will provide a more nuanced view into these unprecedented times, while basic demographics will serve to contextualize their experiences. Collected accounts are primarily disseminated as a publicly available de-identified dataset for researchers to better understand pandemic impacts during this time period, and as a historical artifact in 2025 that connects names to accounts. ## CODING MANUAL This is the coding manual for the file "PandemicAccounts_dataset_2022-03-30.csv" (CSV UTF-8), as part of the Community Pandemic Accounts Project that ran from April 2020 to January 2021. The dataset is housed on Zenodo, and the complete participant responses will be available through the Zhang Legacy Collection Center in 2025. The dataset finalized on 2022-03-30. ### General Information 1. The project was advertised through the University listserv (WMU Today), library social media, and a pop-up window on the Western University Libraries homepage. A total of 112 responses were collected through Qualtrics between April 2020 and January 2021. Only responses that provided a pandemic accounts narrative were included in this dataset (N=68). 2. Some responses were modified to protect the identity of respondants. Names were removed, specific job titles replaced with more broad ones, and household information was coded. In the accounts narrative, brackets "[]" indicate places were identifying parts of the accounts that were removed. 3. Missing data are indicated by "NR". 4. Non-applicable cells are indicated by "N/A". 5. The "Unique values" variable subheading provides the count of rows in brackets corresponding to categorical variables. ### Variable Descriptions ID * Column: A * Description: A number assigned to each response * Values: Integer * Range: 1001 to 1070 * Missing values reason: This value should never be missing o Total non-missing: 68 Note: Each number may not represent a unique participant-- see variable "SurveyFirst" RecordedDate * Column: B * Description: The date the response was recorded by Qualtrics * Values: Date * Missing values reason: This value should never be missing o Total non-missing: 68 SurveyFirst * Column: C * Description: Response to the question "This is my first time filling out this survey" * Values: Integer * Missing values reason: This value should never be missing o Total non-missing: 68 Unique values: 0 No [1]; 1 Yes [67] Age * Column: D * Description: Respondant's age * Values: String * Missing values reason: This value should never be missing o Total non-missing: 68 Unique values: 18-24 [11]; 25-29 [5]; 30-39 [16]; 40-49 [9]; 50-59 [9]; 60-69 [11]; 70-79 [6]; 80-89 [1] WMU * Column: E * Description: Response to the question "Are you part of the WMU community?" * Values: Integer * Missing values reason: This response was not required and could be skipped by respondant o Total non-missing: 68 Unique values: 0 No [3]; 1 Yes [65] JobTitle * Column: F * Description: Response to the question "What do you do for a living?" * Values: String * Missing values reason: This response was not required and could be skipped by respondant o Total non-missing: 66 Unique values: student [15], staff [18], administration [3], professor [8], librarian [10], retired [8], other non-unique titles [4] Note: This variable was standardized when possible to avoid reidentification. Undergraduate and graduate students were only coded as "student", regardless if they also had another job. Professors regardless of rank were coded as "professors", and any individuals who had non-tenure positions at WMU were coded as "staff". The exception to this rule was "librarian", as individuals with library degrees at WMU can be in a tenure-track or staff positions. If a very specific job title was given and it was unclear which main catergories the individual fell into, a generic version of the title was used instead. Individuals who indicated that they were retired were just coded as "retired". CurrentResidency_Density * Column: G * Description: Response to the question "Do you live in a urban or rural area?" * Values: String * Missing values reason: This response was not required and could be skipped by respondant o Total non-missing: 68 Unique values: Rural [17]; Urban [51] CurrentResidency_State * Column: H * Description: Response to the question "Please let us know where you currently are staying", subsection "State" * Values: String * Missing values reason: This value should never be missing o Total non-missing: 68 Unique values: Michigan [64]; Other [4] Note: If respondants were not in Michigan, Indiana, or Illinois, they were asked to select "Other" and write out the location-- see variable "CurrentResidency_Other" CurrentResidency_County * Column: I * Description: Response to the question "Please let us know where you currently are staying", subsection "County" * Values: String * Missing values reason: This value should never be missing o Total non-missing: 68 Note: 11 unique counties CurrentResidency_Other * Column: J * Description: Response to the question "Other: Please write in your current location in the format state, county. If you are outside the United States, write in only the country name." * Values: String * Missing values reason: This question only appeared if participants selected "Other" for their current location o Total non-missing: 4 Note: 4 unique locations Household_Size * Column: K * Description: Response to the question "Who do you live with?"; size of household * Values: Integer * Range: 1 to 5 * Missing values reason: This response was not required and could be skipped by respondant o Total non-missing: 68 o NA: 4 Unique values: 1 [14]; 2 [26]; 3 [10]; 4 [13]; 5[1] * Note: This response was coded to preserve anonymity. Living alone was coded as "1". If the household number wasn't clear, the response was coded as "NA" Household_Children * Column: L * Description: Response to the question "Who do you live with?"; presence of children * Values: Integer * Range: 0 to 3 * Missing values reason: This response was not required and could be skipped by respondant o Total non-missing: 68 o NA: 1 Unique values: 0 [50], 1 [8]; 2 [3]; 3 [6] * Note: This response was coded to preserve anonymity. If the respondant listed no children, this variable was coded as "0". If the respondant listed their children's age and the age was below 18, this was coded as "1". Respondants who listed descriptors such as "young children" or "infant" were also coded as "1". If the respondant listed their children's age and the age was above 18, this was coded as "2". If the respondant listed that they had children but did not provide an age, this was coded as "3". Responses where presence of children could not be deduced (ie "family") were coded as NA Household_Pets * Column: M * Description: Response to the question "What pets do you live with?" * Values: Integer * Missing values reason: This response was not required and could be skipped by respondant o Total non-missing: 68 Unique values: 0 [23]; 1 [25]; 2 [20] * Note: This response was coded to preserve anonymity. If there were no pets, this variable was coded as "0". If any of the pets listed were dogs, this was coded as "1". All other pets were coded as "2" (this included cases where the pet type was unclear). COVID_Testing * Column: N * Description: Response to the question "Have you been tested for COVID-19?" * Values: String * Missing values reason: This value should never be missing o Total non-missing: 68 Unique values: No, I have not been tested [54]; No, I tried to get tested but I was turned away [3]; Yes I was tested [10]; Prefer not to respond [1] COVID_Diagnosis * Column: O * Description: Response to the question "Have you been officially diagnosed with COVID-19?" * Values: String * Missing values reason: This value should never be missing o Total non-missing: 68 Unique values: No, I have not been diagnosed [66]; Yes, I have been diagnosed [1]; Prefer not to respond [1] PandemicExperiences * Column: P * Description: Pandemic experiences of the respondant. Respondants were provided with the following instructions "These questions are meant as a guide to help you think about your experiences. You may answer these or discuss other aspects of the pandemic: - What was your experience with the “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order issued by Governor Whitmer? - How has it impacted your work? - How has it impacted your home life? - If you were a student, how did it affect your studies? - Are there any other ways that this situation has had an impact upon you which you would like to document? - Did you work as a first responder or in a public capacity at any point? - Were there any positive outcomes associated with the mandated shelter-in-place and other disruptions you experienced? - If you had known the extent of disruption ahead of time, are there any things you would have done differently? * Values: String * Missing values reason: This value should never be missing o Total non-missing: 68