Coronavirus and research
Evaluation and research are of course just one aspect of lives to be affected by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In some cases, the most appropriate action may be to put projects on hold indefinitely, for example, research in schools or involving health and social care workers who are likely to be under pressure.
In other instances, however, projects will still need to go ahead, albeit with revised timescales, adaptations to approaches and ongoing risk assessments to cope with the constantly changing situation. In practice, this means that evaluators and researchers will need to make greater use of remote methods of data collection.
This is perhaps least problematic for questionnaires, the majority of which now take place online (using software such as SurveyMonkey or Online Surveys) unless there is a strong reason not to.
In this post, we look at alternatives for research involving interviewing. In a future post, we’ll discuss remote options for focus groups.
Interviewing by phone
Perhaps most common possibility for remote interviewing is to contact interviewee by telephone. The advantage of this method is that the majority of people have easy access to the technology required and of course are used to using a phone. To record the conversation, you can use an app such as TapeACall, but we normally use an in-ear microphone that connects to your normal voice recorder (about £15). The interviewer obviously needs to ensure the interviewee is aware the interview is being recorded and is happy for this to be done.
Video interviews
Another option is to conduct interviews online using Skype, Zoom or another video conferencing platform. This has some obvious advantages, such as being able to see the interviewee (and vice versa) to build a rapport and take account of body language and facial expressions. It also makes it easy to set up a group call which is especially useful for some situations, for example, if you need to work with a translator. Most video conferencing software now also has an in-built recording option. Of course, conducting online interviews relies on participants having access to the equipment to take part – and the digital skills to be able to operate it. For online interviews with the general public, it’s probably worth offering options people are most likely to use for social communication, such as Facetime or WhatsApp.
Options for written interviews
A further alternative is for interviews to move to written rather than spoken formats. This might be synchronous (e.g. using a real-time chat or instant messenger apps such is the one available in Skype or WhatsApp) or asynchronous (e.g. emailing a set of questions for the ‘interviewee’ to respond to in writing later). If possible, it’s best to offer ‘interviewees’ a number of options so they can choose a tool they’re used to and already use, rather than having to download and learn how to use new software. Some social media platforms (e.g. Facebook) allow for both public and private sharing of messages, so it’s important to be clear – and makes sure your participants are clear – which option you are using.
Those are just some of the options we’re thinking about at the moment. We’ll update the blog to share more ways we’re adapting what we do over the coming weeks.