RAPID: Small Businesses and Access to Legal Resources During the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19疫情严重影响了各种规模的企业，尤其是小企业家。除了经济损失外，小企业往往无法获得法律的资源，无法帮助它们解决疫情引发的问题，也无法帮助经济复苏。该项目将通过了解小企业面临的法律的挑战，研究小企业获得法律的咨询的途径。此外，这项研究将评估在COVID-19大流行期间向小企业传播法律的信息的不同方法的有效性。该项目将采用混合方法研究小企业在经济动荡时期获得法律的资源的能力。首先，该项目将采用访谈和调查技术，从不同人口群体和行业的小企业主那里收集有关他们面临的法律的问题的数据。第二，该项目将采用一种试验性设计，审查旨在通过低成本手段提供法律的信息的随机干预措施，使缺乏代表的小企业家能够自助。调查结果将深入了解小企业家在COVID-19大流行期间利用和理解法律的能力。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected businesses of all sizes, particularly small business entrepreneurs. In addition to economic harms, small businesses often lack access to legal resources that would help them navigate issues raised by the pandemic and assist in economic recovery. This project will examine small business’ access to legal advice by generating knowledge about legal challenges they face. As well, this research will assess the effectiveness of different methods of disseminating legal information to small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. This project will incorporate a mixed-methods approach to study small business’ ability to access legal resources during times of economic turmoil. First, the project will employ interview and survey techniques to generate data from small business owners across different demographic groups and industries regarding legal issues they face. Second, using an experimental design the project will examine randomized interventions designed to provide legal information through low-cost means that enable self-help to small business entrepreneurs who lack representation. Findings will provide insight into the ability of small business entrepreneurs to utilize and understand the law during the COVID-19 pandemic.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.