Politics in Search of Evidence—The Role of Public Health in the COVID Pandemic in Germany: Protocol for a Situational Analysis

The protocol presents a research project that explores the relationship between science and politics in the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of public health (PH) scientists in Germany with situational analysis (SA). In context of this global crisis, we ask how PH scientists negotiate their roles as scientists and political citizens; how PH scientists perceive the relationship between their own and other scientific disciplines; and which normative assumptions PH scientists make in the production and dissemination of research findings. To conduct SA, we combine qualitative interviews with PH experts and published documents from scientific societies in PH and related disciplines (e.g., position and opinion papers) to analyze the complexity of integrating evidence-based knowledge into politics. Data are analyzed using different SA mapping tools, focusing on social worlds/arena maps and positional maps. The approach will reveal both explicit positions in the PH community and implicit or hidden voices and will reflect normative assumptions as well as internal structures of PH in Germany. The findings will be discussed with the philosophy sub-project and in a stakeholder workshop with politicians and the public. Further insights will be gained for politics and PH responses to future global crises.