Checklist of items to report or consider reporting in relation to COVID-19 pandemic validity challenges.

Checklist item	Section	Example
Report:
Main details of COVID-19 response measures in action at the time/place of data collection, at least including: level of freedom to move around in public; degree to which schools and businesses are open.	Methods	“At the time of data collection, public movement in the UK was severely restricted by government measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. People were instructed to stay at home at all times, except for doing essential shopping, one period of daily exercise, working outside the home if work at home was impossible, and providing support to vulnerable people. All schools, hospitality venues and non-essential shops were closed.”
Consider reporting:
How COVID-19 restrictions are applying to individual participants.	Results	“In our sample, 65% of participants reported staying at home at all times except for when conducting essential shopping and exercise. A further 25% also reported leaving home to undertake work or volunteering.10% of the sample reported staying at home at all times.”
Consider tailoring of the following aspects of the research:
Research design	Methods	“In response to the rapidly changing circumstances connected with the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we introduced a longitudinal element to our data collection. The survey was administered over two waves separated by two months, allowing us to check whether any of the key independent variables changed over this time, and whether this was associated with any change in the outcome.”
Sample	Methods	“We anticipated that childcare responsibilities could play a role in [variable of interest]. We therefore selected to draw our sample for [region A], where schools were open as normal.”
Data collected (see Table 1 for suggested dimensions)	Methods	“In addition to employment status, we also collected data on the extent to which those in employment were working from home.”
Consider possible implications for:
Findings	Discussion	“We found a strong association between altruism and stated willingness to participate over both waves of the study. However, the association was weaker in the second wave, which, combined with the change in reported application of COVID-19 response measures (while other variables remained stable), suggests that conditions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic could have affected this finding.”
Recommendations	Conclusion	“Our findings suggest that policymakers should prioritise energy saving messaging framed in terms of benefits to the local environment. However, our participants reported spending more time in their local area as a result of COVID-19 control measures which could have influenced our result. We therefore recommend that the effectiveness of such messaging be carefully monitored.”