When fieldwork is disrupted…. what to do and how to move forward

By Nicky Hutson, Final year part-time PhD student, Faculty of Education, Cambridge University

In January 2020, a new coronavirus was detected in China and began spreading rapidly across the globe. At this point, I was part way through collecting data for my PhD research in a UK primary school. My research is interested in assessing how active primary school children are during the school day and what they like to do to be active. In mid-March, I was due to start the interview stage of my data collection in my second school, with a third school scheduled for after the Easter holidays.

As anyone embarking on primary research knows, recruiting participants and schools is a difficult business. Daily, the student population was dwindling as children and staff stayed at home through ill health or fear. Some parents were now supervising classes as staff were unable to come into work, and I watched with a sense of helplessness as absences grew. On the 18^th March, the Headteacher requested that I leave the school site. Rightly, his priority was to protect the school and prepare for the inevitable lockdown that we all suspected was coming. Just two days later, the Prime Minister ordered that all schools and colleges in the UK close.

Initially, I did not focus on my ‘lost’ research project. There was so much suffering, my abandoned study seemed insignificant. I hoped that the pandemic would be short-lived and started to plan what I could salvage. Could I return to school after the Easter Holidays and conduct my interviews then? I spoke to my third school, and we agreed to stay in touch and potentially rearrange for September “all things being well”.  As time went on and the situation worsened – my expectations shifted.

The pandemic raised logistical challenges, but also ethical dilemmas (Bond et al, 2020). My foremost consideration was that it seemed unethical to ask children and teachers to take part in PhD research, given the suffering and misery Covid-19 was placing on everyone. Many of the children were poorly equipped without access to computers or reliable internet. In addition, many of the teaching staff had young children at home and were struggling to cope, let alone plan for home lessons.

The impact of any shift in data collection method was also a consideration. I wondered how an online interview would influence the depth of information I could gather. An ‘immersion in context’ and pursuit of ‘insider status’ had been integral features of my research approach. Building a network within the school, talking to the teachers, children, lunchtime staff, had been part of that immersion. It was challenging to imagine how this would work when all encounters would be virtual.

Safeguarding and privacy were also important. The consent that I had was for face-to-face interviewing – this did not seem enough now the context had shifted. Children may feel less able to change their minds once they were already on an online meet. I also considered the importance of who would be left out of the research if it went online. The voices of children who did not have access to computers and internet resources would be excluded. Their views were arguably more important, given that marginalised socio-economic groups are commonly under-represented in physical activity research (Chang and Kim, 2017). I discussed these issues on the phone with both Headteachers. We all agreed that at a time of unprecedented pressure on schools and children to adapt to new ways of teaching and learning, it was in the best ethical interests of all involved to abandon fieldwork.

“When fieldwork is disrupted, either in process or before it even begins, it can feel like a devastating loss” (MacLean et al, 2020). I took a moment to mourn the loss of my planned PhD, had a discussion with my supervisor, and began re-designing my research. We agreed that I would start to work with the data that I had already collected and adapt my approach accordingly. I remained sure of “the indispensable value of fieldwork for understanding our social world” (Kapiszweski et al, 2015) and wanted to ensure the voices of the participants I had spoken to were heard and respected.

I examined which elements of the research questions, theoretical and methodological framework remained. The philosophical approach of giving children and teachers ‘skin in the game’ in matters that personally affect them persisted. The methodological approach required a shift in focus to acknowledge the smaller sample size and single school format. At this stage, I also examined what other data I could utilize. I re-examined my pilot data and decided to write it up as part of my thesis as a smaller independent study. I looked at the Research Journal I had kept throughout fieldwork and used some of the observations I had collected to enhance my analysis process and add to the single school approach I had adopted. I moved on.

It is interesting to reflect and look back on this tumultuous time. Whilst we all hope a global pandemic is a once in a 100-year event it represents how fieldwork does not always go to plan. It highlighted the importance of knowing when to walk away, re-group and adapt. It involves having faith that it will work out – somehow. This was not the PhD research that I had planned or wanted, but it is the one that I and my participants needed – for that I am extremely grateful.

References

Bond, Kanisha D., Lake, M. and Parkinson, S.E (2020). Lessons from Conflict Studies on Research During the Coronavirus Pandemic. Social Sciences Research Council, July 2, 2020. http://items.ssrc.org/covid-19-and-the-social-sciences/

Cheng, S H and Kim, K. (2017). A review of factors limiting physical activity among young children from low income families. Journal of Exercise Rehabilitation, Aug 13 (4): 375-377

Kapiszewski, D., MacLean, L.M. and Read, B. (2015). Dynamic Research Design: Iteration in Field-Based Inquiry. Field Research in Political Science. New York. Cambridge University Press.

MacLean, LM, Rahman, N Turner, RL Corbett, J (2020). Disrupted Fieldwork: Navigating Innovation, Redesign, and Ethics during an ongoing pandemic. Qualitative and Multi-Media Research Vol 18; No.2