Section 1 Directions: Answer the following questions to decide between on online or offline study design. If you respond “Yes” to most items, consider online data collection.
	Online	Offline
Administrative Considerations
Can staff transfer offline qualitative data collection skills to an online environment with minimal training?	Yes	No
Is there money in the budget to cover the costs of online qualitative data collection software?	Yes	No
Is there money in the budget to cover the costs of online recruitment?	Yes	No
Does the budget limit the ability to pay a transcriptionist to produce written transcripts of audio or video recordings?	Yes	No
Are members of the research team trained to code disjointed text transcripts, audio, video, or other visual files collected online from study participants?	Yes	No
Population Considerations
Are members of your population able to use the technology required to participate in your online study with minimal training?	Yes	No
Do members of your population have access to the technology required to participate in an online study, including high-speed Internet access?	Yes	No
If members of your population will be dependent on community spaces, e.g., libraries or Internet cafés, to participate in an online study, are you confident the location will not limit the time they can participate or bias their responses?	Yes	No
Do members of your population have the literacy to participate in online text-based data collection, e.g., message boards or chat rooms?	Yes	No
Is it important to have participants from geographically diverse locations?	Yes	No
Data Collection Considerations
Compared with offline data collection, will online data collection increase the confidentiality of participants?	Yes	No
Is it desirable for your study participants to have greater perceived anonymity?	Yes	No
Is it desirable for your study participants to have greater perceived homogeneity?	Yes	No
If collecting data online, do you have access to strong data security systems, e.g., a dedicated study server and data encryption?	Yes	No
If collecting data online, is there technical support for members of the research team?	Yes	No
If collecting data online, is there technical support for participants?	Yes	No
Are there significant barriers to securing participant transportation or a physical space if data were collected offline?	Yes	No
If collecting data online, are you confident that members of the research team will be able to build rapport with study participants?	Yes	No
If collecting data online, does your qualitative data collection software allow participants to record emotional reactions, e.g., emoticons?	Yes	No
If the viewing of media is critical to your study, will the qualitative data collection software you are using support the media, e.g., hyperlinks, photographs, videos?	Yes	No
Does the study timeline prohibit delayed access to data while it is being transcribed?	Yes	No
Is it important to have every comment date and time stamped and linked to a participant identification number?	Yes	No
Are there significant barriers to securing participant transportation or a physical space if data were collected offline?	Yes	No

Section 2 Directions: If you decide to collect data online, answer the following questions to help you determine whether you should use individual in-depth interviews, focus groups, or both. If you respond “Yes” to all items, consider collecting data using individual in-depth interviews. Conversely, if you respond “No” to all items, consider collecting data using focus groups. If your responses are in both columns, consider whether it would be beneficial to use both data collection methods.
	Interviews	Focus Groups
Are you more interested in gaining an in-depth understanding rather than a breadth of information about your topic?	Yes	No
Do you want personal narratives (stories) from participants about their experiences with your topic?	Yes	No
Are you asking questions that could harm an individual if their responses were disclosed to a group of people?	Yes	No
Are you asking questions that are likely to be perceived as highly personal or sensitive, raising questions about trustworthiness of data if collected in a group situation?	Yes	No
Are participants being recruited into the study to capture opposing opinions or experiences?	Yes	No

Section 3 Directions: If you decide to collect your online data using focus groups, answer the following questions to help you determine whether you should use synchronous or asynchronous data collection, or both. If you respond “Yes” all items, consider using synchronous data collection. Conversely, if you respond “No” to all items, consider using asynchronous data collection. If your responses are in both columns, consider whether it would be beneficial to use both data collection methods.
	Asynchronous	Synchronous
Are you expecting to have participants who lack experience communicating with other people in an online chat room environment?	Yes	No
Is participants’ reflexivity important to you?	Yes	No
Are participants more likely to be engaged if they are allowed to participate on their own time?	Yes	No
Are you willing to sacrifice the spontaneity of an interactive conversation to allow for reflexivity or to accommodate participants’ schedules?	Yes	No
Does your retention plan allow you to contact participants who do not log into an asynchronous data collection tool within an agreed on period of time?	Yes	No
Are you confident that if your retention plan is implemented appropriately, participant dropout will be minimal?	Yes	No
Is the use of the constant-comparative method critical to your study design?	Yes	No

Section 4 Directions: After determining whether to use synchronous or asynchronous data collection, or both, answer the following questions to determine if you should use text-only or incorporate visual data collection techniques. If you respond “Yes” to some items, consider using text and visual data collection techniques. If you respond “No” to all items, consider using text-only data collection techniques.
	Text & Visual	Text Only
Does the software you plan to use allow for a virtual whiteboard?	Yes	No
Are you collecting chronological data, e.g., a life history or event diary that could be improved with the use of Rivers of Experience, Timeline Follow Back, or a similar technique?	Yes	No
Are you asking participants to engage in a comparative analysis or other highly cognitive activity that could be improved by using a comparative line or similar visual interviewing technique?	Yes	No
Are you asking participants to upload and discuss archival items, documents, or photos, e.g., Photovoice?	Yes	No