The impact of COVID-19 on fieldwork efforts and planning in pairfam and FReDA-GGS

Abstract

The worldwide spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the fieldwork of surveys. The data collection efforts via the face-to-face mode have been affected especially, including the ongoing surveys that were in the field during the COVID-19 outbreak and the planned surveys scheduled for fieldwork later in 2020. We provide an account of how COVID-19 has impacted two family studies in Germany: “The German Family Panel” (pairfam) and the “Generations and Gender Survey” (GGS) both of which will be part of the “Family Research and Demographic Analysis” (FReDA) infrastructure. Based on pairfam, we illustrate the effects of the pandemic on ongoing data collection and the measures taken to proceed with fieldwork, and we report on a special COVID-19 survey. Based on FReDA-GGS, we outline how COVID-19 has affected our planned survey schedules, what future challenges are expected when fieldwork becomes possible again, and how we have adapted our plans accordingly.