Conducting cross-cultural qualitative interviews with mainland Chinese participants during COVID: Lessons from the field
Authors
Publication Date
2022-02Journal Title
Qualitative Research
ISSN
1468-7941
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Volume
22
Issue
1
Pages
154-165
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Lawrence, L. (2022). Conducting cross-cultural qualitative interviews with mainland Chinese participants during COVID: Lessons from the field. Qualitative Research, 22 (1), 154-165. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794120974157
Abstract
<jats:p> The COVID-19 global pandemic has had a significant impact on researchers as the normal and expected difficulties of research are exacerbated as education and our way of life has drastically changed. This research note is a reflective narrative of the author’s experience transitioning from face-to-face to online interviews in light of social distancing and global travel restrictions. Through a descriptive analysis, this article details the numerous ethical, logistical, practical, and cultural issues the author confronted in preparation for qualitative cross-cultural online interview research through personal reflections, current events, and existing literature. The aim of this article is to highlight personal experience to better inform future research and encourage flexibility and reflexivity in research. It is hoped that this article can be of use to further develop cross-cultural qualitative methodology and expand upon the emerging field of literature surrounding videoconferencing qualitative research. </jats:p>
Keywords
Research Notes, qualitative research, cross-cultural research, online interviews, China, COVID-19, videoconferencing, WeChat, guanxi
Sponsorship
Institute of International Education (U.S. Fulbright Student Research Scholarship)
Identifiers
10.1177_1468794120974157
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794120974157
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/333568
Rights
Licence:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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