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Asked by anon-283784 to Lisa on 2 Mar 2021.
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Lisa Grünwald answered on 2 Mar 2021:
I used to be able to meet research participants in person, to see them at their home or in clinic, which I have had to change. We now do our research appointments (where we do questionnaires and small assessments with participants) over the phone. The rest of my work is possible to do from home, so I’m glad we’ve been able to continue it.
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Comments
Christina commented on :
It was tough during the first lockdown – I had to cancel all my experiments I planned before my thesis hand-in (70000 words on 4 years of work) in November. I was also living in a place that didn’t have enough space to work well at home. I was lucky to get an extension on my PhD, which meant I could finish my experiments when the university opened up in summer. I then moved to another city and commuted, which can be a bit of a pain but the flat I live in now is cheaper and bigger, so I like working at home now.
I currently go into work 3 days a week to do experiments and work from home the other two. I miss the social interactions at work but I think I now work better in the house, and plan to keep it this way even when things go back to normal.
Lisa commented on :
I have been homeschooling my two children through lockdown, so I’ve found it really tricky to balance home life, with teaching and research. My latest research study is interviewing breastfeeding mothers. I was already doing this on the Internet through Skype and Zoom, so luckily my study has not been affected too much. However, I have found it hard to do the research at home as it is impossible to get a quiet house with a 4 and 7 year old! I have been pretty lucky though, as my research can be done from home. 🙂
David commented on :
Lockdown has really affected my work: as I use normal people as my research participants, I’ve been hit hard. A lot of my colleagues have managed to put their work online, but this hasn’t really worked for me: I need to actually scan peoples’ brains with MRI, or attach electrodes to their heads. Not really possible through a computer screen…
On a more positive not, lockdown has made me think more about how I could get my research to people in their own homes. For example, there has been some experiments that gave people their own, basic brain stimulation device and taught them how to use it. Perhaps I can do something like that, as lockdown is slowly lifted across the country.
Harry commented on :
I have been quite lucky with my research. I started looking at my area for my master’s. Then the first lockdown happened and it was a mad rush to get everything online! Now that this has been the norm for a while, I’ve not really had any issues and would argue that recruiting participants has been easier for me online than it would have been in person!
Dennis commented on :
It didn’t affect me in a major way. Even before Covid, I have been working from home every day. Also, I do most of my research online online. But I do miss meeting other researchers in person.
laurenmcgale commented on :
I have had to adapt my research. I cannot do my usual experimental studies in the lab or in schools, where we actually give people food and see what they choose and how much they eat in different situations. However, we have had to get creative and changed our ideas a bit, and now we run online studies and do interviews on the phone/online.