Covid-19 is an unprecedented event with multidimensional effects. It not only affects health but also harms the economy and social aspects. To respond to this situation, a great measure to mitigate the effect caused by Covid-19 is necessary.
Addressing these challenges, the School of Business and Management (SBM) ITB collaborated with the Faculty of Administrative Science of Universitas Indonesia (UI), Disaster Risk Reduction Center UI, STIA LAN Bandung Polytechnic, and the Indonesian Classification Bureau (BKI) Academy held a joint webinar as part the Merdeka Belajar-Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) program, initiated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology, Nadiem Makarim. The webinar with the theme of “Implementation of action research in dealing with Covid-19.” was attended by more than 300 participants. 
Action research can be interpreted as a research framework to solve a problem and enable researchers-client collaboration. The VP of Financial Service and Inclusion & Public Policy Government Relation of Gojek, Hilman Palaon, explained that action research consists of six processes, namely: understanding the issues that occurred, diagnosing, action planning, doing the action, evaluating, and creating the output (conclusion and recommendation).
“Output can be a recommendation or input for the next research,” Said Hilman, who is also an alumnus of DSM SBM-ITB (19/06/2021).
Hilman revealed one example of the action research implementation during a pandemic: research about the appropriate method for the provision of Covid-19 funding assistance to be delivered to the people in need. By implementing action research, researchers can continuously research to find the best solution and provide recommendations for more effective policy-making. As a result, the people in need can access financial resources, and utilizing technology and innovation, such as QR codes and face recognition, can support social distancing in this pandemic. “The impact is that all people can have access to financial institutions,” said Hilman, who currently serves as
Furthermore, Dr. Rachma Fitriati, M.Si., M.Si (Han), One of the lecturers at the Faculty of Administrative Science of Universitas Indonesia and the author of Covid-19 book, added that there is an interactive duality in action research. Besides, action research needs to refer to the set of theories and applies qualitative data collection methods, such as interviews and Focus Group Discussion (FGD). Rachma emphasized that action research is crucial in this pandemic because health and economy are related to providing policy change recommendations during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Finally, action research is crucial nowadays because this situation has never happened before and needs more research, mainly action research, to provide recommendations for policy-making. Dr. Purwanto, the Director of Budget at Directorate General of Budget, Ministry of Finance, revealed that action research is essential because the researchers must learn by doing to solve the problem. “Action research facilitates a continuous cycle for the process of learning by doing, to solve problems with a particular theory,” Said Purwanto.
Written by Student Reporter (Deo Fernando, Entrepreneurship 2022)