4.- 4.- RESEARCH DESIGN

In order to acheive the objectives, a methodology contemplating different The basic tool in the development of the AMAS Project is the work to be carried out among individuals and groups, depending on their relative positions vis-à-vis AIDS, so that they may be able, individually and collectively, to contribute their points of view, knowledge and experience.

4.1.- Working groups.

The AMAS Project contemplates the formation of three so-called Experienced Groups, or EGs, made up of 15 members each. To this end, we will call on people in any of the following categories:
a) HIV carriers;
b) family members living directly with HIV carriers;
c) healthcare providers/social services personnel working with HIV carriers;
d) people connected with or support groups or organizations involved in AIDS care or prevention.

The AMAS Project is based on the premise that HIV and AIDS are far from being solely a healthcare problem. At this time, they are also a problem with social, psychological, educational, ethical and, obviously, healthcare ramifications. AIDS does not involve only those infected, those living with them, and those healthcare professionals who treat them. For this reason, this Project contemplates the development of a new strategy that will include what we call Opinion Leaders (OLs). These opinion leaders will bring to the project an outsider's vision-the vision of society--of what AIDS is and the repercussions it triggers.

OPINION LEADERS

Opinion Leaders for the AMAS Project, to be selected by our Research Team, will be individuals who agree to participate in the Project and who will share with us their points of view, in writing, for submission to the other OLs and to the Experienced Groups.
The Project conceives of the OLs as international figures, with links to the cultural world in the widest sense of the term. They will be expert professionals from any discipline, and will have in common widely recognized intellectual and human qualities, so that their voices will be listened to by a significant sector of the population, both from the quanitative and the qualitative standpoints. Obviously, these OLs do not necessarily have to be, nor are expected to be, related to AIDS.
The AMAS Project calls for five Opinion Leaders. They will be integrated into the Project by the following process: the Research Team will select a potential candidate, contact him/her, and submit for their consideration the project as a whole, specifying the nature and conditions of their participation.
Once their participation has been agreed upon, each OL will receive all the information relating to the project and the first invitation to provide us with his/her contribution. The Research Team will forward to each OL a working folder, which will include a selection of relevant papers on HVI and AIDS, as well as up-to-date reference material. The folders will also include a number of questions raised by the Research Team. All this material is intended to stimulate and help each OL in thinking about what he/she may want to say. Each OL will be asked to write a paper of about 40 pages, and to provide such data and opinions as he/she may see fit to share with us.
The first papers from Opinion Leaders will be prepared without any prior contacts among them. Actually, no OL needs to know who the other selected OLs are. At the end of this phase of the study, the Research Team will have received five papers independently prepared by the five OLs. All these papers are to be integrated into a single document, which will become the working basis for debates to be carried out by the Experienced Groups-EGs-in respective symposia.
Once the work of the EGs is completed, each Opinion Leadeer will receive a summary report prepared on the basis of the five initial and separate OL papers, plus the contributions of the EGs. In this second stage of the project, OLs will review their contributions, amplify or modify their points of view, and discuss such questions as they may wish to bring up-all of this to be done in writing and forwarded to the Research Team. The team will summarize all the contributions and will in turn pass them on to the EGs at another seminar to be held for this purpose.
A second debate, at EG seminars, will allow us to add new contributions to the existing document. The Research Team will then write a Final Document to be presented and debated at a Symposium that will be held in Barcelona and will include the five Opinion Leaders, members of the Experienced Groups, and the Research Team, as well as a group of outside experts who have not been parties to the research process.
Following the Symposium, a Final Report will be drawn up. It will include a description of the AMAS Project, an explanation of the methodology and process used, and the presentation of results.
Throughout the entire research process, an Internet Page, covering the AMAS Project and general information on AIDS, will be accessible to the participants, and discussion groups on HIV/AIDS subjects will be proposed. Their deliberations will also be included among the items supplied to further the thinking of OLs and EGs.
As we have seen, the AMAS Project is intended to relate the individual reflections of intellectual members of the various disciplines with the work and conclusions of groups directly involved in HIV/AIDS problems. The Research Team will act as a connecting link between these two groups, and its function will be to plan, coordinate and summarize all contributions.
In this manner, we believe we can achieve the objectives we set for ourselves; i.e., to debate, develop and publicize consensual approaches to HIV/AIDS problems that will allow setting forth all their implications and the strategies necessary to face them, so as to gain a better understanding of AIDS and widen the extent of social awareness.