tandfonline.com – Overcoming methodological challenges due to COVID-19 pandemic in a non-pharmacological caregiver-child randomly controlled trial

ABSTRACT

The current situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic has had huge consequences in all aspects of our lives, including the development of research activities. Studies involving face-to-face interaction with people, such as randomized controlled trials, were the first affected. The objective of this article is to present the insights on challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic onto an ongoing randomized controlled trial assessing a non-pharmacological intervention carried out with the participation of caregiver-child dyads. Findings contribute to the scarce literature on online synchronous data collection for quantitative studies, when in addition to the data it is necessary to assess observable behaviors. Video-conferencing proved to be a feasible alternative to face-to-face assessment interviews, which require video recording, and should be considered as a viable option for quantitative investigations of different disciplines, as it decreases risks due to face-to-face contact and mobility of participants and researchers, in continental countries like Brazil.