Table 1 Disease transmission risk and mitigation strategies for conducting interviews using different modes during the pandemic

Scheduling interviews

Over the phone (low risk)

– Researchers are informed when participants may have had a change in COVID-19 status, without physical contact

In person (high risk)

– Home visits required scheduling of interviews with referred participants who are not contactable

– No way to determine whether participant is an active COVID-19 case prior to visit, or issued a health risk warning (HRW)

Over the phone

– Call to schedule interview 7–12 days prior to intended interview date

– Remind participants of scheduled interview 2–3 days prior and conduct COVID-19 safety checks

– Call again on the day of interview and conduct COVID-19 safety checks

– Reschedule interviews (14 days later) for those who are active COVID-19 cases, or a close contact

In person

– Mask-on all times, practice hand hygiene

– Ring doorbell/knock on door and then stand 1 m away when waiting for a response

– Conduct COVID-19 safety checks. If safe to enter, sanitize hands prior to entering household, offer participant a surgical mask and practice safe distancing

Conducting in-depth interviews remotely

Videoconferencing (low risk)

– Challenge to obtain virtual/verbal consent due to diverse profiles of older persons

– Access to internet connection that can support videoconferencing platforms

Videoconferencing

– Digital consent forms available for tech-savvy participants via hyperlink

– For participants who can do videoconferencing but do not know how to navigate digital consent (e.g. e-signatures), verbal consent must be sought prior to recording. Verbal consent will be audio-recorded

– All recordings to be saved and uploaded to an encrypted cloud server and the local copy deleted

Conducting in-person data collection: in-depth interviews; photo elicitation interviews; participant observations; focus group discussions

In person (medium to high risk)

– Participants may unknowingly be asymptomatic COVID-19 cases

In person

– Mask-on always for both interviewer and participant, practice hand hygiene and safe distancing

– Interview venue must be well ventilated

– Ensure participant’s hands are sanitized before handling any items (e.g. documents, pen, tablet)

– Sanitize all common touchpoints after each interview (e.g. pen, tablet)

– For households, ensure participants will not expect more than the stipulated amount of unique household visitors after accounting for the interviewers