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Emerging Perspectives  

ep.journalhosting.ucalgary.ca  

  
  
  

Creative approaches to mixed-methods data collection in the context of the  

COVID-19 pandemic: Investigating families, emotions, and collective coping in a 

prospective sample  
  

Chelsea Reaume1, Madeleine Alie, Kristel Thomassin  

  

University of Guelph   

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 

COVID19 within the family system. Methods described herein may inform future 

qualitative virtual research through increasing naturalism and accessibility to 

remote areas and diverse populations.  

Keywords: COVID-19, parenting, family system, child functioning, naturalism 

parent emotion socialization  

Reaume, C., Alie, M., & Thomassin, K. (2021). Creative approaches to mixed 
methods data collection in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: Investigating 

families, emotions, and collective coping in a prospective sample. Emerging 

Perspectives, 5(2). 6-12.   

 
1 creaume@uoguelph.ca  

  

  

  



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The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated diligent shifts in the conduct of family science 

research (Brock & Laifer, 2020). While recent pandemic research has examined parenting and 

child well-being (e.g., Brown et al., 2020; Gadermann et al., 2021; Tso et al., 2020), minimal 

literature has explored parent and child functioning longitudinally throughout the pandemic from 

an emotion socialization (i.e., the ways in which parents teach their children about emotions) lens  

(Eisenberg et al., 1998). This is surprising given that the family environment plays such a 

considerable role in child emotion skill development, which in turn facilitates children’s 

psychosocial well-being (e.g., Ellis et al., 2014; Seddon et al., 2020). The role of parent emotion 

skills and socialization behaviours (i.e., parental reactions to child emotion expression; Eisenberg 

et al., 1998) on child functioning is particularly relevant in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, 

which has placed unique challenges on the family system (e.g., caregiving burden and lack of 

social support, confinement-related stressors, financial instability; Prime et al., 2020). Given that 

parental stress plays a considerable role in the socialization of their children’s emotions (Shaffer 

et al., 2011), these enduring stressors on the family unit resulting from the pandemic may have 

unique impacts on child emotion development and functioning that merit further investigation.    

Our decision to extend a previously completed study emerged, in part, from standstills in 

data collection due to province-wide shutdowns. We saw emerging studies examining the impact 

of school closures and other public health measures on children; however, we observed minimal 

research considering prospective samples of parents and children. In addition, we saw little to no 

qualitative work on the topic, despite qualitative inquiry being a crucial component to studying 

new and understudied phenomena (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Given the novelty of changes 

experienced as a function of non-pharmaceutical interventions implemented to slow the spread of 

COVID-19 (e.g., social distancing, lockdowns, changes to work and school environments), we felt 

it crucial to provide parents and children with open-ended questions to gain a full picture of the 

challenges and triumphs they experienced as family units during the pandemic. Finally, no research 

to date has examined the pandemic’s effects from an emotion socialization perspective. As a result, 

our research team believed we could devise a prospective study that contributed uniquely to the 

literature on COVID-19 and family functioning.  

As such, the present brief describes our endeavors to address the limitations of the current 

literature on family functioning and COVID-19 through an ongoing, multi-timepoint investigation 

of parental emotion socialization and child functioning. Specific research questions include:  

1. How do pre-COVID parent characteristics (e.g., gender, emotion regulation, psychopathology) 

interact with the practical impacts of the pandemic (illness risk, potential financial and income 

insecurity, loss of social support) to predict parent functioning mid-pandemic?  

2. What benefits and challenges are parents and children experiencing in the context of the 

pandemic? Are these benefits and challenges shared family-wide?  

3, How do pre-COVID parent characteristics, child characteristics, and the endorsed positive and 

negative impacts of the pandemic within the family environment relate to reciprocal affect within 

parent-child discussions?  

  



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Method  

  
Participants and Initial Timepoint Procedure  

  

Our follow-up study included 102 parents of children ages 8-12 who had previously 

completed two data collection sessions. Initially, parents participated in focus groups that 

examined parental beliefs about child emotion expression (see Thomassin et al., 2019). At a 

twelve-month follow up, parents completed questionnaires examining their own emotion 

regulation (i.e., the ability to manage one’s emotional experiences) and psychopathological 

symptoms (e.g., anxiety, depressive symptoms), emotion socialization behaviours (i.e., responses 

to child expression of positive and negative emotions), and child emotion regulation and 

psychopathology. Given the time elapsed between the original data collection timepoints and the 

present day, children in the current wave of data collection were between the ages of 12 and 16 

(current n = 38).  

  

Follow-Up Timepoint Procedure  

Once parents consented to participate in the follow-up study, they were asked to complete a 

number of questionnaires that had been grouped within a single Qualtrics survey. This survey 

examined similar constructs to the first timepoint as well as additional measures exploring trauma 

symptomatology (i.e., agitation, avoidance, and hyperactivity) and practical impacts of the 

pandemic (i.e., illness, lost income, lost social support). They were also asked to report on their 

child’s emotion regulation, psychopathological symptoms, and overall functioning in the context 

of COVID-19. Children were also offered the opportunity to complete their own survey asking 

about their emotion regulation, psychological symptoms, and mental health in the context of 

COVID-19. Finally, parents and children recorded and uploaded a brief video discussion task, 

wherein dyads were asked to discuss their perceived positive and negative effects of COVID-19 

within their family, as well as any strategies or tactics that they had been using to cope.   

    

Video Discussion Task  

We utilized a virtual format of assessment to capture nuances of family interaction as 

naturalistically as possible. We felt this was important when considering the variability amongst 

different families’ coping strategies and experience through COVID-19 and its related changes. 

This method to integrate filmed conversations into the Qualtrics-based component was developed 

with the following factors in mind: (a) accommodating dual-pair (i.e., parent and child) 

convenience to participate in research while navigating COVID-19 related disruptions to their 

typical family routine, (b) upholding the rigorous standards associated with collecting child health 

information (i.e., children responding to questions regarding their mental health), and (c) 

maintaining feasibility for researchers and families. When collecting children’s health information 

for research, there are increased requirements for researchers to ensure there is no linkage between 

participant responses and identifying information (i.e., emails, ages, names) in accordance with the 

Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA).  

To accommodate families’ altered schedules and ensure maximal convenience for 

participants, individual surveys were available for several weeks once a participant first began 



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responding. Within the laboratory’s Qualtrics account, the survey was duplicated for each 

participant (i.e., each parent-child dyad) prior to distribution. An anonymized link to each 

individual survey was sent in a participation invitation email from our laboratory Outlook account. 

To anonymize survey responses, individual participant IDs were only recorded within the actual 

interface of each survey as a validation question, with the corresponding link to a given 

participant’s OneDrive folder also directly embedded within the Qualtrics interface. The sole 

documentation linking participants’ emails to their ID, survey responses, and video recordings 

within the OneDrive folders was stored as an encrypted file on the secure laboratory drive.   

In adherence to PHIPA’s requirement for an active, explicit method to provide participant 

consent and child assent, this study used a forced text entry of the word “yes” into a text field 

following the consent form. This provides a feasible method for gathering “active” study consent 

for related virtual research moving forward. Following survey completion, participants were 

automatically redirected to a separate Qualtrics form to enter their email to receive compensation.  

Unlike other available marketed software that “pipes” video recording capabilities directly 

into the Qualtrics interface, Microsoft Suite encrypts in-transit media files (i.e., videos filmed on 

individuals’ devices, such as a tablet or phone) and securely stores files. Although a promising next 

step for virtual qualitative research, piping software does not relinquish video ownership and often 

stores saved recordings on international servers. In compliance with PHIPA’s requirement for data 

encryption, we securely stored all media files on the laboratory drive by downloading and 

subsequently deleting a given participant’s submitted video file from their corresponding OneDrive 

folder. This method supports various media files (i.e., different operating systems), thereby 

providing enhanced feasibility for participant involvement in this research step. See Figure 1 for 

full Qualtrics and OneDrive workflow.  

    

  

Completion of Data Collection and Ethical Considerations  

After final follow-up, we received a response rate of 37% (n = 38), with 19% (n = 19) of the 

parent-child dyads completing the video. Several parents within our prospective sample kindly 

declined recruitment emails, citing feelings of stress or being overwhelmed as their reason for not 

participating at the current juncture. This process raised considerations regarding the ethics of 

recruiting parent and child participants during stressful life circumstances such as a pandemic. The 

researchers believe that it is crucial to include the perspectives of relevant stakeholders in order to 

understand and address ongoing mental health concerns in children, and parents, many of which 

are likely to persist after the cessation of the pandemic (Tambling et al., 2021). Additionally, some 

parents may find it cathartic to share their experiences within the context of a research study. That 

said, it is critical to ensure parents, as a special population of study, are not inundated with requests 

that could increase their burden. This was addressed in the present study in part by allowing 

participants to record and upload their video discussion task at a convenient time, thus maximizing 

feasibility and accessibility.   

It is also critical to consider sample representativeness in the context of family stress. It may 

be that parents who are most likely to participate are those who are the least taxed by the pandemic 

and related changes, and/or whose families are coping relatively well during the pandemic. This 

may provide the false impression that families, on the whole, are coping more effectively than they 

actually are. Given the unequally distributed harm of the COVID-19 pandemic and related changes 

(Statistics Canada, 2021; Van Lancker & Parolin, 2020), researchers should consider developing 



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effective methods to reach higher-risk populations in order to gain a sense of their functioning and 

needs, while simultaneously ensuring minimal response burden on participants.  

  

    

Conclusions  

Overall, the current brief provides insight into the methodology used to continue previous 

studies in a virtual format. The ongoing study described in the brief contributes to the literature by 

employing a multimodal approach to family-wide emotional and psychological functioning 

emphasizing the need for increased feasibility and accommodation when conducting virtually 

based qualitative studies within the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, this is one of few studies 

to examine impacts of the pandemic longitudinally within a Canadian sample of parents and 

children, and the first to do so from an emotion socialization perspective. Insights from this 

research may go on to inform other family scientists on methods of collecting qualitative or 

mixedmethods data from children and families remotely in a way that is both accessible for families 

and provides meaningful output for researchers.    

  

References  

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in  

Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa  

Brock, R. L., & Laifer, L. M. (2020). Family science in the context of the covid‐19 pandemic: 

Solutions and new directions. Family Process. Advance online publication. 

https://doiorg/10.1111/famp.12582  

Brown, S. M., Doom, J. R., Lechuga-Peña, S., Watamura, S. E., & Koppels, T. (2020). Stress and 

parenting during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Child Abuse & Neglect, 110(Pt 2),  

104699. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104699  

Eisenberg, N., Cumberland, A., & Spinrad, T. L. (1998). Parental Socialization of Emotion.  

Psychological Inquiry, 9(4), 241–273. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327965pli0904_1  

Ellis, B. H., Alisic, E., Reiss, A., Dishion, T., & Fisher, P. A. (2014). Emotion regulation among 
preschoolers on a continuum of risk: The role of maternal emotion coaching. Journal of 

Child and Family Studies, 23(6), 965–974. https://doi-org/10.1007/s10826-013-9752-z  

Gadermann, A. C., Thomson, K. C., Richardson, C. G., Gagné, M., McAuliffe, C., Hirani, S., & 

Jenkins, E. (2021). Examining the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on family mental 

health in Canada: Findings from a national cross-sectional study. BMJ Open, 11(1), 

e042871. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-042871  

Prime, H., Wade, M., & Browne, D. T. (2020). Risk and resilience in family well-being during 

the COVID-19 pandemic. American Psychologist, 75(5), 631–643. 

https://doiorg/10.1037/amp0000660  

Seddon, J. A., Abdel-Baki, R., Feige, S., & Thomassin, K. (2020). The cascade effect of parent 
dysfunction: An emotion socialization transmission framework. Frontiers in Psychology, 

11, 579519. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.579519  

Shaffer, A., Suveg, C., Thomassin, K., & Bradbury, L. (2011). Emotion socialization in the context 

of family risks: Links to child emotion regulation. Journal of Child and Family  

Studies, 21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-011-9551-3  



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Statistics Canada. (2021). COVID-19 in Canada: A one-year update on social and economic 

impacts. [Report]. Retrieved from https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/11-631-

x/11631-x2021001-eng.pdf?st=wMxnCpjJ   

Tambling, R., Russell, B., Tomkunas, A., Horton, A., & Hutchison, M. (2021). Factors 
contributing to parents' psychological and medical help seeking during the COVID-19 

global pandemic. Family & community health, 44(2), 87–98. 

https://doi.org/10.1097/FCH.0000000000000298  

Thomassin, K., Bucsea, O., Chan, K. J., & Carter, E. (2019). A thematic analysis of parents’ 

gendered beliefs about emotion in middle childhood boys and girls. Journal of Family 

Issues, 40(18), 2944–2973. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X19868261  

Tso, W. W. Y., Wong, R. S., Tung, K. T. S., Rao, N., Fu, K. W., Yam, J. C. S., . . . Lp, P. (2020). 

Vulnerability and resilience in children during the covid-19 pandemic. European Child &  

Adolescent Psychiatry. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-

02001680-8   

Van Lancker, W. & Parolin, Z. (2020). COVID-19, school closures, and child poverty: a social 
crisis in the making. The Lancet Public Health. 5. 

https://doi.org/10.1016/S24682667(20)30084-0  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  



 

Figure 1.  

Qualtrics and OneDrive Workflow for Mixed-Methods Virtual Data Collection  

  

  


	Method
	Video Discussion Task

	Completion of Data Collection and Ethical Considerations
	Conclusions
	References

