Life Experience and Community during COVID-19 in Wuhan (LECC-Wuhan), is an ongoing longitudinal study designed to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on individual’s economic and social life, subjective well-being, perceptions and attitudes, and social participation, in order to investigate the role of community in supporting residents during public health crises in Wuhan. The project is jointly conducted by the Center for Applied Social and Economic Research (CASER) at Hong Kong University of Science and technology, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

Baseline data collection was executed during Wuhan’s lockdown (February 20 to March 6, 2020). The survey adopted a network-based sampling method. It began with 149 students and faculty members—referred to as “seeds”—from seven universities in Wuhan, who referred their acquaintances to an online questionnaire. The eligible respondents were between ages 18 and 70 and were living in Wuhan at the time of the survey. To increase the coverage, the seeds were asked to refer acquaintances from both sexes and diverse age groups.

The baseline survey successfully collected data from 4,234 Wuhan residents. A follow-up survey is planned to be implemented in fall 2020, six months after the lockdown was lifted.

Selected Publications in English

Miao, Jia, Donglin Zeng and Zhilei Shi. Forthcoming “Can Neighborhoods Protect Residents from Mental Distress During the COVID-19 Pandemic? Evidence from Wuhan.” Chinese Sociological Review [in Press]