Reflections on the process, challenges, and lessons learned conducting remote qualitative research on violence against women during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in South Africa
dc.contributor.author | Mahlangu, P | |
dc.contributor.author | Machisa, MT | |
dc.contributor.author | Jewkes, R | |
dc.contributor.author | Gibbs, A | |
dc.contributor.author | Shai, N | |
dc.contributor.author | Sikweyiya, Y | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2024-01-04T11:50:02Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2024-01-02 | |
dc.date.updated | 2024-01-04T09:09:03Z | |
dc.description.abstract | Background Violence against women (VAW) research is a sensitive topic, which has been conducted mainly using face-to-face methods. The COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and restrictions on movement presented an opportunity to conduct VAW research using remote methods. We discuss how we adapted methods, reflect on lessons learned, and make recommendations highlighting key considerations when conducting remote research on a sensitive topic of VAW. Methods We designed and conducted an exploratory qualitative study using remote methods with 18 men and 19 women, aged 18 years and older, who lived with their partner or spouse during lockdown in South Africa. The aim of the study was to explore experiences of COVID-19 lockdown, and its link to women and children’s experiences of violence in the homes. Data presented in this paper draws from researchers’ reflections drawn from debriefing sessions during the research process, and from participants’ interview transcripts. Findings Remote recruitment of participants took longer than anticipated, and we had to re-advertise the study. We could not ensure safety and privacy during interviews. Regardless of all the safety and privacy measures we put in place during the research process, some participants had an adult person present in the room during interviews, and the researchers had no control over interruptions. Rapport was difficult to establish without an in-person connection, which limited disclosure about violence experience (amongst women) and perpetration (amongst men). Conclusions Given the methodological and ethical challenges which limited disclosure of VAW remotely, we conclude that telephone interviews used in our study impacted on the quality of study data. Therefore, we do not recommend VAW research to be conducted remotely, unless it is essential and participants are already known to the interviewer and trust has been established. | en_GB |
dc.description.sponsorship | South African Medical Research Council | en_GB |
dc.description.sponsorship | DST – NRF Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Human Development | en_GB |
dc.identifier.citation | Vol. 24(1), article 33 | en_GB |
dc.identifier.doi | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-17480-z | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10871/134893 | |
dc.identifier | ORCID: 0000-0003-2812-5377 (Gibbs, Andrew) | |
dc.language.iso | en | en_GB |
dc.publisher | BMC | en_GB |
dc.rights | © The Author(s) 2023. Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. | en_GB |
dc.subject | COVID-19 pandemic lockdown | en_GB |
dc.subject | Remote data collection methods | en_GB |
dc.subject | Violence against women research | en_GB |
dc.subject | Intimate partner violence | en_GB |
dc.subject | Telephone interviews | en_GB |
dc.subject | South Africa | en_GB |
dc.title | Reflections on the process, challenges, and lessons learned conducting remote qualitative research on violence against women during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in South Africa | en_GB |
dc.type | Article | en_GB |
dc.date.available | 2024-01-04T11:50:02Z | |
exeter.article-number | 33 | |
dc.description | This is the final version. Available on open access from BMC via the DOI in this record | en_GB |
dc.description | Data availability: The datasets analysed in the study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. | en_GB |
dc.identifier.eissn | 1471-2458 | |
dc.identifier.journal | BMC Public Health | en_GB |
dc.rights.uri | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | en_GB |
dcterms.dateAccepted | 2023-12-13 | |
rioxxterms.version | VoR | en_GB |
rioxxterms.licenseref.startdate | 2024-01-02 | |
rioxxterms.type | Journal Article/Review | en_GB |
refterms.dateFCD | 2024-01-04T11:47:59Z | |
refterms.versionFCD | VoR | |
refterms.dateFOA | 2024-01-04T11:50:13Z | |
refterms.panel | A | en_GB |
refterms.dateFirstOnline | 2024-01-02 |
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in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.