TY - JOUR
AU - Davidson, Jennifer C.
AU - Karadzhov, Dimitar
AU - Wilson, Graham
PY - 2024
DA - January
TI - Short take: designing a multinational smartphone app survey during COVID-19: rewards, risks, and recommendations
JO - Field Methods
DO - https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822X231218192
AB - Cost-effective and user-friendly, mobile phone-assisted methods have remained underutilized in qualitative social science research. The scarce methodological guidance, together with recruitment and ethical challenges, has arguably stifled advancements in this area. COVID-19 exposed the need to better equip researchers with the expertise and tools to conduct remote research effectively. In 2020, we designed and launched a smartphone survey application to collect real-time data from children’s sector professionals across the globe regarding best practices in, and challenges to, responding to the pandemic. In this short article, we reflect on the efficiency, quality, and acceptability afforded by the smartphone app survey, and outline recommendations for enhancing rigor and feasibility. We also present data snippets illustrating the positive impact of participation on respondents—a seldom-documented aspect of app-based research. Altogether, we advocate a flexible, pragmatic, and user-centered study and app design that aligns with respondents’ specific, situational needs, and preferences.
PB - SAGE Publications
UR - https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/317830/
KW - Coronavirus (COVID-19)
KW - Digital health and technology
ER