Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted all aspects of child care and early education (CCEE). The pandemic caused many CCEE programs to close temporarily and/or use health and safety precautions (e.g., masks, social distancing). The pandemic also exacerbated CCEE staffing shortages and negatively affected the physical and mental health of CCEE staff and families of children at CCEE programs. During the pandemic, CCEE researchers, often in the middle of research studies, had to make difficult decisions about if and how to move forward with their projects. As part of the Child Care and Early Education Policy and Research Analysis (CCEEPRA) project with the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE), Child Trends hosted a virtual convening in April 2023 with researchers from nine OPRE-funded research projects. The purpose of the convening was to learn about the implications of researchers’ revised research processes and methods during the COVID-19 pandemic for participants and study findings. Another purpose of the convening was to ask, “Which of the revised methods and processes make sense to continue into the future because they could improve the experience of participants and the quality of the research findings?” This brief shares researchers’ experiences and reflections to inform the broader CCEE research field’s work moving forward.
Purpose
In this brief, we share the challenges that child care and early education (CCEE) researchers experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, changes made to their research projects, and the implications of these changes for CCEE program staff and families and children who use CCEE. We also share how adaptions to research or methods can be used in future CCEE research studies.
Key Findings and Highlights
During a virtual convening in April 2023, researchers from nine child care and early education (CCEE) research projects funded by the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) discussed the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on their research. Researchers also shared their reflections on how adaptations to their research processes or methods could be used in future research studies. Key takeaways from these discussions included:
- Researchers shifted from in-person research activities to virtual or remote research activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, researchers conducted virtual interviews, virtual focus groups, and live remote classroom observations. Researchers offered lessons learned from these virtual or remote research activities that could be applied to future studies. For example, virtual interviews and focus groups could be helpful for both participants and researchers on future research studies since they offer participants more flexibility for scheduling and reduce the expense of traveling for research staff. Researchers shared that it is helpful to share options for virtual interviews and focus groups outside of typical working hours and to think through whether a virtual interview or focus group is best for each participant type (e.g., families, CCEE program staff).
- Researchers provided examples of how they revised recruitment processes during the pandemic. Researchers relied on CCEE program staff to assist with recruitment, which they noted has benefits (e.g., individuals may be more likely to participate in the research study if someone they trust recruits them) and drawbacks (e.g., participating in recruitment creates a burden for CCEE program staff). Researchers also shared evidence that tokens of appreciation, or incentives, can promote higher recruitment rates, especially a small token of appreciation offered to the participant at the time of recruitment and a larger one offered to the participant after they participate. For future studies, researchers suggested that research staff assisting with recruitment receive additional training to help understand and mitigate CCEE programs’ concerns when enrolling in a research study. They also recommended that future studies plan for multiple options for recruitment methods (e.g., drafting both email and phone recruitment scripts).
- Researchers experienced challenges ensuring equitable participation in research studies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, CCEE programs that had greater staff resources (e.g., less staff turnover) were better able to participate in research studies compared to CCEE programs that were more affected by COVID-19 (e.g., had higher rates of staff turnover). To ensure that all types of programs have the opportunity to participate in research studies, future research studies could offer both virtual and in-person data collection, ask participants their preferences about what works best for them (e.g., timing of interviews, length of interviews), and identify other accommodations to support participation across a wider selection of participants.
- Researchers demonstrated high levels of respect and empathy for research participants, acknowledging the added burdens of research on participants, and on CCEE program staff who may not be formal study participants, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers agreed there is value in meaningfully including participants or their community at an early design stage and hoped that future research studies continue to do so. Researchers also agreed that future studies could continue to be thoughtful about the burdens that participants face, and offer a variety of opportunities for accommodating challenges that make it difficult for families and CCEE program staff to participate in research.
Citation
Diamond, Z., Bell, D., Bernstein, S., Cavadel, E., DeMeo Cook, K., Ehrlich Loewe, S., Gillis, M., Heinz, H., Kelly, A., Kirby, G., Maier, M., Sandstrom, H., & Tout, K. (2024). Child care and early education research during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons learned and future considerations. OPRE Report #2024-130. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.