Advantages and Limitations of Doing Data Collection Online: In the Context of Researching Perceptions of Uncertainty Among Czech Migrants Living in the UK

Online qualitative interviews can benefit research by capturing the unfurling of subjectively experienced social phenomena in real time during the data collection process. Set against the backdrop of a national lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic and the decision of the UK to leave the European Union, the research project, Czech migrants living in the UK in the age of uncertainty, sought to unlock the complex interplay of factors underpinning perception of uncertainties and to enhance understanding of how perceived uncertainties interlink with a sense of belonging, identity, and migration decision-making. To achieve these objectives, I deployed grounded theory because of the unique and unprecedented character of the social phenomena upon which the research is focused. The research project had originally been designed as requiring face-to-face data collection but was altered due to the lockdown. This situation, therefore, caused interruption, redesign of research elements, and amendment of the ethics review documentation which had originally been approved on the basis of in-person data collection. The case study explores how online semi-structured interviews enabled the successful acquisition of data from 43 participants based either in the UK or the Czech Republic during the national lockdown. I reflect on both advantages and limitations of conducting interviews online and draw on the experience to highlight new strategies that may help future online research anticipate and overcome obstacles in the service of achieving research objectives.