I planned to explore college students’ ideas regarding maintaining a healthy lifestyle on their campuses. I intended to implement qualitative research to gain insights into the participants’ attitudes and opinions, so face-to-face interviews were the most appropriate method to collect data. In order to recruit potential participants, I wanted to distribute leaflets about my research among students in the most crowded locations of the campus. However, due to the pandemics, a larger portion of courses became online courses, and the number of students on the campus reduced considerably. I decided that the changes in the number of the potential cohort could affect the results of my research, so I used our social networks to reach people. I used the leaflet I wanted to utilize initially, but I did not hand it to people directly.
The digital way to recruit people proved to be more convenient and conducting interviews online was not big news as well. However, I feel face-to-face interactions could be more informative as I would be able to notice more reactions and non-verbal cues. At that, the participants were in a comfortable environment, which helped them be relaxed and positive. At that, the interview with one of the participants was interrupted due to some family issues. As far as the data analysis process is concerned, it was not affected in any way. I planned to use software to help me analyze the obtained results. I also had access to libraries and databases, which ensured the appropriate implementation of research. I reviewed numerous resources that were instrumental in informing my study. Hence, it is possible to note that the pandemics had an effect on my research in terms of data collection, but due to technological advancements, I managed to conduct research effectively.