GESIS Pretest-Datenbank: Dokumentation-Fragen Details - Project „LoneCovid“ – Questions on social networks and their evolution throughout the COVID-19 pandemic (English Version)

Allgemeine Informationen:

*Note: The item was tested in German. This is an English translation of the original German wording.*

Einleitungstext:

In the second part of the survey, we will ask you questions about how your social circle has changed as a result of the pandemic. When answering the following questions, please think back to the time before the pandemic. Think about people you knew in the months before the pandemic—people with whom you had contact in any way, whether in person, by phone, video, mail, or social media.

[Im zweiten Teil der Befragung werden wir Ihnen Fragen dazu stellen, wie sich Ihr soziales Umfeld durch die Pandemie verändert hat. Denken Sie bei den folgenden Fragen bitte an die Zeit vor der Pandemie. Denken Sie an Personen, die Sie in den Monaten vor der Pandemie kannten, mit denen Sie in irgendeiner Weise Kontakt hatten, entweder persönlich, per Telefon, Video, Post oder soziale Medien.]

Fragetext:

Are there people you knew in the months before the pandemic but with whom you’ve lost contact during the pandemic, or with whom contact is no longer possible?

[Gibt es Personen, die Sie in den Monaten vor der Pandemie kannten, zu denen Sie aber im Laufe der Pandemie den Kontakt verloren haben oder zu denken kein Kontakt mehr möglich ist?]

Antwortkategorien:

Yes [Ja]
No [Nein]

Empfehlungen:

The participants interpreted the item consistently and had no difficulty recalling the time before and during the pandemic. However, one participant was unsure whether the question was asking whether contact with a person had been lost because of the pandemic (disagreements, contact restrictions) or during the pandemic (for other reasons, such as moving). Therefore, we recommend adding an interviewer instruction that clarifies the intent of the question and can be read aloud by the interviewer if necessary.

In addition, we recommend simplifying the wording of the question:

“Are there any people with whom you lost contact or broke off contact during the pandemic?”

Eingesetzte kognitive Technik/en:

Comprehension Probing, Difficulty Probing

Befund zur Frage:

Testing objectives:
The purpose of the cognitive probes was, on the one hand, to investigate what the participants understood by “losing contact” and, on the other hand, to determine whether they had difficulty recalling the time before and during the pandemic.

Findings:
As shown in Table 8, only one of the ten participants reported having lost contact with one or more people during the pandemic. This participant (TP07) explained that she had lost contact with one person (also) because of the pandemic:

“It has less to do with him personally and more to do with closer contact with other people, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. That's why it's faded away.” (TP07)

Another participant (TP09) explained while answering the question that, although she had lost contact with someone, it was not the pandemic that caused this loss of contact, but rather a change of residence:

“I don't feel like the pandemic has had a negative impact on my circle of friends. If anything has changed, it's only because I moved. [NAME] and I have lost touch. He lives in [CITY], and I live in [CITY].” (TP09)

It was unclear to this participant whether the item referred to the fact that contact had (coincidentally) ceased during the COVID-19 pandemic or because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The participant ultimately interpreted the question as asking about a causal relationship between the pandemic and the cessation of contact and answered “no.”

The test persons who answered “no” to Question 9 explained that while the frequency of contact with some people had decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic, they had not completely lost contact with anyone:

“No, we never lost touch. Even though we didn’t meet or see each other very often—either because it wasn’t possible or because someone was actually sick—we never lost touch.” (TP01)
“We may be in touch less often, but we haven’t lost touch entirely.” (TP05)

What do the test persons understand by “losing contact”?
The participants had a similar understanding of the term and, in their responses to the question, referred to whether they still communicated with someone they knew before the pandemic, either through in-person meetings or via communication channels such as the phone, social media, video calls, or instant messaging. All participants interpreted the question as asking whether contact had been lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic (differences of opinion, contact restrictions). Loss of contact due to death (TP02) or relocation (TP09, see quote above) was not included:

“That maybe you haven’t been in touch, or if you don’t see each other regularly, that the contact has been broken as a result. […] My mother died during the pandemic, but I wouldn’t include that here.” (TP02)
“That you had differences of opinion with that person regarding COVID-19, disagreed about the measures, and ended up falling out. And that this led to a breakdown in communication.” (TP03)
“That you’ve somehow had a falling out because of COVID-19 and don’t want anything to do with that person anymore.” (TP04)
“I’d say that we don’t see each other in person anymore. And we don’t communicate with each other at all anymore either.” (TP05)
“No more contact in the real world—meaning we don’t meet up anymore. But also no more contact via social media or WhatsApp, etc.” (TP07)
“That you no longer have any contact, as described above—by phone, video, or in any other way. In other words, that you don’t meet in person or message each other on WhatsApp.” (TP08)

Do the participants find it difficult to recall the time before and during the pandemic?
The nine participants who answered “No” to Question 9 were asked, following the comprehension probe, how easy or difficult they found it to recall the time before and during the pandemic. All nine participants reported that they found it “rather easy” or “very easy.”

Thema der Frage:

Gesellschaft & Soziales/ Beziehungen

Konstrukt:

Loss of contact