Conducting qualitative interviews using virtual communication tools amid COVID-19 pandemic: A learning opportunity for future research

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has threatened the health and wellbeing of the global citizens which has led to a significant change in attitude, lifestyle and behaviour of people from diverse professions, including academics and researchers. Doctoral students and funded researchers with the time limit to their research project have experienced stress and anxiety due to the struggle of negotiating and managing timeline to complete the fieldwork for their research. In the current circumstances, increasing number of researchers are looking for alternative methods to conduct the fieldwork and complete the data collection. In this context, the aim of this viewpoint is to provide reflections on the challenges and opportunities experienced by the authors while conducting qualitative research fieldwork during the COVID-19 pandemic.