Examine how the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown have affected pastoral caregivers from the United Reformed Church.

Methodology Research Proposal

Objectives

Examine how the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown have affected pastoral caregivers from the United Reformed Church.

Methodology
Research Design

This research will use six semi-structured interviews. This is possible because of the anonymity whereby participants’ identity is hidden. The participants are, therefore, free and willing to give the most candid information best to their knowledge. Accuracy in research is necessary for it helps in drawing meaningful conclusion and feasible decisions. The choice of using a Semi-Structured Interviews was arrived at due to its flexibility.

A researcher using this technique has the liberty of utilising an online survey, telephone survey, or even face-to-face (Kampenes et al., 2008). Especially at a time when people’s movement and physical contact have been restricted due to COVID-19, an online interview can be the most appropriate for this study. Although there are several techniques for this design, semi-structured interviews will be used in this inquiry.

Sampling Technique – Participants

The recruitment process will consist of an announcement via email to pastoral caregivers of the United Reformed Church who can voluntarily make the decision to take part in the study.

Materials

A semi-structured interview will be used and audio recorded with a recording device. Questions will be used as research tools.

Procedure

This research will be done through an online interview. After the selection of the participants, the interview questions will be prepared. The participants will then be contacted individually through Microsoft Teams. This is to protect the researcher and the participants against the virus. The online interview will also help cut down the cost and minimise time wasted for carrying out the investigation (Howard, 2019). The data will be recoded and transcribed ready for analysis.

Data Analysis

The analytical approach for this research will be qualitative. The qualitative design allows for the deeper examination of participants with identical experiences, to reveal shared thoughts and tribulations (Houman & Stapley, 2013; Alase, 2017). An inductive/bottom-up method, it withdraws noteworthy and prevalent information from the base material using clear and defined frameworks (Alase, 2017). The recordings of the interviews will be transcribed and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis- IPA (Smith, 1995 cited in Biggerstaff & Thompson, 2008). IPA is a two-level interpretation process where

1: the respondent is aiming to interpret their experiences

2: the researcher aims to comprehend the respondent’s experience. This is also known as double hermeneutics. (Alase, 2017; Biggerstaff & Thompson, 2008). A key feature of IPA is to immerse and extract the “lived experience” of the respondent, case by case (Alase, 2017). This method of analysis will be appropriate for exploring the experiences, the commonalities between each individual will aid the eliciting of clusters and themes.

When gathering data for IPA, respondents communicate unified experiences in order to permit a fuller understanding and depth of their similar circumstances (Alase, 2017). During this current research, the process of employing IPA will involve the repeated familiarisation of the transcribed data. The initial gathering of themes will be found and after further deliberation the themes will be arranged into clusters. Finally, elicited themes and clusters will be displayed in table form (Biggerstaff & Thompson, 2008).

Ethical Considerations

This study will be conducted through informed consent whereby the caregivers will be informed of the intended purpose and how they will participate. The participants will also be assured of their safety during the research, in addition to guaranteed privacy. There will be no sharing of information, and anonymity will be used to cover their identity.

It is important to ensure that written and informed consent is obtained from participants. If consent is not obtained, they will not be invited to participate in the study. Additionally, participants who have mental health issues will be screened out of the research. An Information sheet will specify that if a person has been diagnosed a mental disorder they cannot participate in the study..

As the interview questions will ask the participants several questions relating to the impact of the pandemic which may be trigger anxiety and distress for some participants, there will be support mechanisms in place. Firstly, participants will be reminded at the beginning of the study that they have the right to withdraw from the study at any point during the study or at the end if they wish to withdraw their data. Participants will also receive an information pack including advice on where to seek any further help from support organisations they may need if they wish to discuss any feeling of distress. Participant’s anonymity will also be maintained. They will also be reminded that all their information and answers will be kept securely, anonymously and confidentially. Furthermore, each participant will be given details of the researcher and supervisor in case they need further clarification and support.

Reassurance will be given to each participant by way of an information sheet stating what can be expected before they decide to participate. The information sheet will address the content and procedure of the study. Accredited sources for advice and assistance will be provided as a cautionary measure to potential distress arising during the study.

Participants will be informed all recorded data will be destroyed upon completion. A research information sheet, a consent form and a debriefing letter will also be provided during the study.

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