Pregistration files for COVID Race and SES

This github repo contains the pre-registration documents (including the survey questions) for a survey-based study examining the effects of race and socio-economic status (SES) on COVID-19. The license requires anyone using materials (mainly the intellectual property: survey questions) credit, in the form of a citation, should they use or refer to the research object. This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build on the work as long as they credit you for the original creation.Summary. SARS-CoV2 attaches to particulate matter and regions with higher pollution loads have higher COVID-19 infection and mortality rates. Racial minorities and socio-economically disadvantaged groups have higher pollution loads and poorer air quality. In the US and UK, these groups also have higher COVID-19 infection and mortality rate and more severe disease progression. Because pollution and poor air quality also negatively impact olfactory ability, we are interested in whether smell and/or taste loss, in the absence of other symptoms, is a key indicator of COVID-19 infection in these groups, who may already have pre-existing smell and taste disorders from poor air quality. There is a data gap to overcome because smell testing only recently became part of national health initiatives in the US and current pandemic clinical practices do not routinely collect race and ethnicity data. Our study is survey-based and aims to collect information about the experience of smell and taste loss in marginalized groups globally.Status. Survey questions were designed to overcome the challenge of global variation in SES and race (Kara C. Hoover, University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA) and focus on household resources and individual assessment's of their 'income/resources' relative to others and their perspective on whether they are viewed as a minoritized/marginalized group in their society. Additional survey questions were designed to address the goals of the study. A small internal award from the University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Liberal Arts was used to purchase (Qualtrics) a balanced sample of American Black, Hispanic and white respondents with household incomes below the United States poverty threshold to guarantee sufficient power to detect an effect (using data from GCCR study). A follow-up survey in FormR that drew on the existing GCCR survey responses and an additional existing dataset from the GCCR were also used to address study questions beyond the US. The study was submitted to the University of Alaska Fairbanks Institutional Review Board for ethical approval on 15 July 2022.