It’s always an exciting/nerve-racking moment when a project moves into a data collection phase. A lot of planning, drafting and discussion goes into designing and developing a questionnaire and working out how to reach participants, but the collection of data is when research goes from being an abstract idea, into something generating new knowledge.

The first questionnaire in this study will be distributed over the next couple of weeks to those who have signed up. The first tranche was sent to over 300 participants on Monday 1 July, and we are pleased to have already had responses from over 20% of that sample, and we expect to see those numbers increasing. A second tranche will be distributed over the next couple of days to those who have signed up since Monday.

The design of our study (of which more in a later post) means that we can collect data throughout the FiY1 period. Even if you miss one questionnaire for whatever reason (because you have not signed up yet, haven’t started FiY1, or just forgot) you can still contribute to the remainder of the study. The more representation we have from FiY doctors across the UK, the more confident we can be that we have a true picture of your experience at this extraordinary time.

You can still sign up at https://newcastle.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/medical-graduates-covid-intro. If you are an FiY1 who has signed up but not received a questionnaire, please get in touch.