Creative approaches to mixed-methods data collection in the context of COVID-19: Investigating families, emotions, and collective coping in a prospective sample

Abstract

This research brief describes an ongoing, multi-timepoint investigation of parental emotion socialization and child functioning. We utilized a prospective design to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our research participants’ emotion functioning. This follow-up study included 102 parents who were initially interviewed and surveyed on psychological well-being, parenting behaviours, and child functioning. Researchers incorporated parent and child report measures alongside recorded parent-child discussions to comprehensively capture how families have coped during pandemic. This brief provides descriptions of secure methods for remotely collecting observational data that can be implemented using Qualtrics and Microsoft OneDrive. This method was generated by the researchers with both participant convenience and privacy in mind. This forthcoming study will further highlight the need to prospectively analyze the collective impact of COVID-19 within the family system. Methods described herein may inform future qualitative virtual research through increasing naturalism and accessibility to remote areas and diverse populations.