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Since Covid-19 was declared a pandemic, academic researchers have tried to maintain the continuity of scientific processes and overcome the difficulties of field work;this motivated the exploration of new forms of data collection adapted to the changes imposed by the pandemic. The methodology used was exploratory-documentary, focused on the new media used by academic research and the way in which the instruments have had to adapt to the social limitations imposed on nations. The results show that thanks to teleworking and information and communication technologies, it has been possible to continue collecting data from virtual environments, which has involved reconsidering criteria and tools. It is concluded that the existence of renewed forms of data collection is marked mainly by the media, highlighting that the use of social and academic networks has expanded its borders, which has been used by researchers to have an approach to reality in the contemporaneity. © 2023, Universidad del Zulia. All rights reserved.
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COVID-19 pandemic caused a lot of loss and it is really important to give attention to technologies and ways to slow its spread and eventually stop it. Now in past few months, the government tried to open various sectors of society such as school gyms, etc. but failed and had to shut them down again due to increase in cases;we have seen a gradual increase in cases when the government tries to open these sectors because many persons were not so much attentive and were not following protocols properly. One of them is not wearing proper masks. Mask is a non-pharmaceutical measure that is used against primary spread of COVID by droplets. For people to follow protocols and wear masks, we are proposing a face mask detection device which will be effective to make people more aware to wear face masks by warning them who are not putting masks on their faces and restricting them to enter public places such as school, colleges, gym, etc. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
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Introduction: Advancement in digital technology opens new doors for food safety auditors when it comes to performing food safety audits. Surge of Covid cases since year 2020 has seen an unprecedented switch to remote auditing by the Food Safety and Quality Programme under the arm of Ministry of Health in Malaysia. Methods: This paper presents the use of QGIS, an open-source cross-platform for geographic information system (GIS) to store, manage and visualise 2 types of data, i.e. real time data collected via a mobile device using QField, an open-source mobile application and also fixed data retrieved from existing database. New data from obtained from field sampling and surveillance presents updated information for food safety auditing and enforcement purposes. A total of 4972 datasets were obtained from the Ministry of Health's Food Safety and Quality Division database on food factories from all 13 states and 3 federal territories in Malaysia. These datasets were transformed and stored into QGIS point layer for performing data classification analysis on clustering of HACCP, GMP and MeSTI certifications. Results: The Penang state has the most HACCP certified companies in fish and fish product category, Selangor is the highest for confectionery industry and Sabah for food services. The general output of mobile GIS provides a big picture of distribution of food safety certifications in Malaysia while more specific adoption of QField can assist in effective field work planning for enforcement officers and auditors leading to cost calculation via information on location, distance and time. Conclusion: QGIS application for spatial and temporal visualisation of data benefits the food safety auditing in Malaysia. © 2023 UPM Press. All rights reserved.
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Introduction: The impact of COVID-19 social restrictions on mental wellbeing of health professional students during placement is largely unknown. Conventional survey methods do not capture emotional fluctuations. Increasing use of smartphones suggests short message service (SMS) functionality could provide easy, rapid data. This project tested the feasibility and validity of gathering data on Therapeutic Radiography student mental wellbeing during clinical placement via emoji and SMS. Methods: Participants provided anonymous daily emoji responses via WhatsApp to a dedicated mobile phone. Additional weekly prompts sought textual responses indicating factors impacting on wellbeing. A short anonymous online survey validated responses and provided feedback on the method. Results: Participants (n = 15) provided 254 daily responses using 108 different emoji;these triangulated with weekly textual responses. Feedback concerning the method was positive. 'Happy' emoji were used most frequently;social interaction and fatigue were important wellbeing factors. Anonymity and opportunity to feedback via SMS were received positively;ease and rapidity of response engendered engagement throughout the 3-week study. Conclusions: The use of emoji for rapid assessment of cohort mental wellbeing is valid and potentially useful alongside more formal evaluation and support strategies. Capturing simple wellbeing responses from a cohort may facilitate the organisation of timely support interventions. © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press.
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The COVID-19 pandemic brought a series of restructurings necessary for research in Developmental Psychology. The aim of the manuscript is to discuss adaptations we made in our research in this context during the COVID-19 pandemic and to present strategies to adequate research protocols originally designed to occur in person. Although some contexts do not allow the continuity of studies, research at this time can bring essential contributions in this extreme period. This article explores the strategies for adapting recruitment procedures, suggesting dissemination platforms, and using social networks for this purpose. Guidelines are suggested for conducting non-face-to-face interviews with caregivers, ways of assessing the interaction of the mother-child pairs, and problematizing ethical issues. The procedures for returning the results, an ethical researcher commitment, may be improved by resources such as automatic reports. Besides, strategies for better dissemination of the results for the participants are suggested. © 2022,Psico-USF. All Rights Reserved.
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PurposeThe rising food demand around the globe goes hand in hand with the rapid development of the agriculture industry. However, this development at the same time has detrimental effects on the natural environment. Hence, promoting ecological strategies in agriculture is essential for environmental sustainability. This study aims to investigate the institutional determinants of ecological strategies adopted by agricultural exporting firms and how these strategies enhance the firms' competitive advantage and financial performance.Design/methodology/approachA survey was conducted to collect data from 218 managers of agricultural exporting companies in Vietnam, which is a major exporter of agricultural products. The data were analyzed using different techniques including partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).FindingsThe results reveal that market pressure, regulatory pressure and competitive pressure motivate the adoption of ecological strategies among the surveyed agricultural exporting firms. Furthermore, such strategies help these firms obtain competitive advantage, which in turn increases their export financial performance. In addition, larger firms, compared to smaller firms, are more likely to adopt ecological strategies.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature by developing and validating a unique model examining the institutional pressures of ecological strategies and their outcomes in export markets. The study extends current knowledge about ecological exporting strategies for agricultural products, and its findings have several managerial and policy implications for promoting these strategies among agricultural exporting firms in emerging countries like Vietnam.
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Purpose>The inclusion of sustainability in higher education courses has been debated in recent decades and has gained particular emphasis throughout the COVID-19. This paper aims to show how the context of the pandemic, which demanded the transition from in-person classes to virtual classes, was used to illustrate better the concepts of life cycle assessment (LCA) for Production Engineering students in a Brazilian University.Design/methodology/approach>The research strategy used was action research. Throughout the discipline offering, the environmental impacts resulting from in-person and remote classes were comparatively assessed through a practical activity using LCA. Students' behaviour and perception of the activities were recorded by the professor and discussed with the other researchers on the team. At the end of the course, students answered a questionnaire to assess their satisfaction with different aspects of the discipline, and these data were analysed via Fuzzy Delphi.Findings>The results focus on discussing the pedagogical aspects of this experience and not the environmental impacts resulting from each class modality. It was possible to notice a greater engagement of students when using a project that directly involved their daily activities (food, transportation, use of electronics, etc.) compared to the traditional approach of teaching LCA concepts. In this traditional approach, the examples focussed on the industrial sector, a more distant context from the reality of most students. Student feedback demonstrated great acceptance by them regarding the approach adopted.Originality/value>This study contributes to expanding debates about sustainability insertion in higher education and the training of professionals more aligned with the sustainable development agenda.
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Purpose>This paper focuses on the wine tourist market in the central region of Portugal, and it aims to analyze the wine tourist's demographic and travel behavior and preferences profile, based on their level of wine involvement.Design/methodology/approach>This paper presents results from an exploratory study with a quantitative design, including a total of 1,029 survey responses from visitors of three wine routes. A K-mean cluster analysis was carried out, and the emerging groups of wine tourists were statistically compared (ANOVA or Chi-squared test).Findings>Participants present a demographic profile of the wine route visitor similar to that found in other studies, with an average involvement with wine. There were three clusters of wine tourists, with different levels of involvement with wine: less wine-involved;medium wine-involved;and highly wine-involved. Significant differences between the three mentioned categories are visible for gender, age and attractions visited and expenses, suggesting the possibility of a differentiated market approach. Additionally, most respondents report high interest in a variety of attractions that are not exclusively wine-related. This finding supports the conceptualization of (particularly rural) wine tourism as "terroir tourism.”Research limitations/implications>The pandemic context in which data collection was undertaken led to a smaller sample than expected, which was also more domestic than would have been in "non-COVID” times.Practical implications>This study provides relevant insights about visitors of wine routes in Central Portugal, which may resonate in other wine tourism destinations. Implications for both theory and practice are also discussed.Originality/value>This paper fulfills an identified need to study the wine tourism market in the Central Region of Portugal and expands our understanding about wine tourists' profiles, behavior and interests, adding with empirical findings to the debate on heterogeneity in the wine tourist market, the role of wine involvement and of terroir.
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The evolution of online shopping started when big players like Amazon began selling all types of merchandise. Customers understood the ease of shopping online, so the trend grew even stronger. It is therefore essential to conduct a study of online shopping usage and the perception of customers during COVID-19, especially in the grocery sector. In this study, approximately 28 respondents from 50 specifically targeted groups were surveyed, and data collection was undertaken through a structured questionnaire. The regression method was conducted to analyze the collected data. Additionally, 5 interviews were conducted to validate and support the findings. Customers definitely preferred online grocery shopping (OGS) services during COVID-19 due to safety, convenience, and government restrictions. The influential factors were very important in this case, like delivery times, good discounts, and the quality of products. Secondly, OGS services were more stable and alert during the pandemic situation, following the government's rules and restrictions. Customers were extremely satisfied with the safety precautions during COVID-19, the assistance provided through helplines for support, and the increased customer reach to make groceries as accessible as other reputable online departments.
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Covid-19 is a global crisis and the greatest challenge we have faced. It affects people in different ways. Most infected people develop a mild to moderate form of the disease and recover without hospitalization. This presents a problem in spreading the pandemic with unintentionally manner. Thus, this paper provides a new technique for COVID-19 monitoring remotely and in wide range. The system is based on satellite technology that provides a pivotal solution for wireless monitoring. This mission requires a data collection technique which can be based on drones' technology. Therefore, the main objective of our proposal is to develop a mission architecture around satellite technology in order to collect information in wide range, mostly, in areas suffer network coverage. A communication method was developed around a constellation of nanosatellites to cover Saudi Arabia region which is the area of interest in this paper. The new proposed architecture provided an efficient monitoring application discussing the gaps related to thermal imaging data. It reached 15.8 min as mean duration of visibility for the desired area. In total, the system can reach a coverage of 5.8 h/day, allowing to send about 21870 thermal images. © 2023 CRL Publishing. All rights reserved.
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We present the CarbonTracker Europe High-Resolution (CTE-HR) system that estimates carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange over Europe at high resolution (0.1 × 0.2∘) and in near real time (about 2 months' latency). It includes a dynamic anthropogenic emission model, which uses easily available statistics on economic activity, energy use, and weather to generate anthropogenic emissions with dynamic time profiles at high spatial and temporal resolution (0.1×0.2∘, hourly). Hourly net ecosystem productivity (NEP) calculated by the Simple Biosphere model Version 4 (SiB4) is driven by meteorology from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Reanalysis 5th Generation (ERA5) dataset. This NEP is downscaled to 0.1×0.2∘ using the high-resolution Coordination of Information on the Environment (CORINE) land-cover map and combined with the Global Fire Assimilation System (GFAS) fire emissions to create terrestrial carbon fluxes. Ocean CO2 fluxes are included in our product, based on Jena CarboScope ocean CO2 fluxes, which are downscaled using wind speed and temperature. Jointly, these flux estimates enable modeling of atmospheric CO2 mole fractions over Europe.We assess the skill of the CTE-HR CO2 fluxes (a) to reproduce observed anomalies in biospheric fluxes and atmospheric CO2 mole fractions during the 2018 European drought, (b) to capture the reduction of anthropogenic emissions due to COVID-19 lockdowns, (c) to match mole fraction observations at Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) sites across Europe after atmospheric transport with the Transport Model, version 5 (TM5) and the Stochastic Time-Inverted Lagrangian Transport (STILT), driven by ECMWF-IFS, and (d) to capture the magnitude and variability of measured CO2 fluxes in the city center of Amsterdam (the Netherlands).We show that CTE-HR fluxes reproduce large-scale flux anomalies reported in previous studies for both biospheric fluxes (drought of 2018) and anthropogenic emissions (COVID-19 pandemic in 2020). After applying transport of emitted CO2, the CTE-HR fluxes have lower median root mean square errors (RMSEs) relative to mole fraction observations than fluxes from a non-informed flux estimate, in which biosphere fluxes are scaled to match the global growth rate of CO2 (poor person's inversion). RMSEs are close to those of the reanalysis with the CTE data assimilation system. This is encouraging given that CTE-HR fluxes did not profit from the weekly assimilation of CO2 observations as in CTE.We furthermore compare CO2 concentration observations at the Dutch Lutjewad coastal tower with high-resolution STILT transport to show that the high-resolution fluxes manifest variability due to different emission sectors in summer and winter. Interestingly, in periods where synoptic-scale transport variability dominates CO2 concentration variations, the CTE-HR fluxes perform similarly to low-resolution fluxes (5–10× coarsened). The remaining 10 % of the simulated CO2 mole fraction differs by >2 ppm between the low-resolution and high-resolution flux representation and is clearly associated with coherent structures ("plumes”) originating from emission hotspots such as power plants. We therefore note that the added resolution of our product will matter most for very specific locations and times when used for atmospheric CO2 modeling. Finally, in a densely populated region like the Amsterdam city center, our modeled fluxes underestimate the magnitude of measured eddy covariance fluxes but capture their substantial diurnal variations in summertime and wintertime well.We conclude that our product is a promising tool for modeling the European carbon budget at a high resolution in near real time. The fluxes are freely available from the ICOS Carbon Portal (CC-BY-4.0) to be used for near-real-time monitoring and modeling, for example, as an a priori flux product in a CO2 data assimilation system. The data are available at 10.18160/20Z1-AYJ2 .
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Rough Set is a machine learning algorithm that analyses and determines important attributes based on an uncertain data set. The purpose of this study is to classify public interest in the Covid-19 vaccine. Vaccination is one of the solutions from the government that is considered the most appropriate to reduce the number of Covid-19 cases. Data collection was taken through a questionnaire distributed to the village community in Air Manik Village, Padang-West Sumatra, randomly as many as 100 respondents. The assessment attributes in this study are Vaccine Understanding (1), Environment (2), Community Education (3), Vaccine Confidence (4), and Cost (5), while the target attribute is the result that contains the community's interest or not to participate in vaccination. The analysis process is assisted using the Rosetta application. This study resulted in 3 reductions with 58 rules based on 100 respondents. This study concludes that the Rough Set algorithm can be used to classify public interest in the Covid-19 vaccine. Based on this research, it is hoped that it can provide information and input for local governments to be more aggressive in urging and encouraging the public to be vaccinated. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.
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BackgroundThe suicide rate has increased during the pandemic in India. Moreover, several studies, especially press-media reporting suicide studies have been conducted but no systematic review has been attempted in this context. Therefore, the present study systematically investigated the risk factors associated with suicidal behaviors, and the method of suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic in India.MethodsFollowing the PRISMA guidelines, a systematic search was performed to include papers published up until September 30, 2022. From an initial 144 papers, 18 studies which met the inclusion criteria were included in the present review. The Pierson's method was used for quality assessment of the included studies in the present review.ResultsThe risk factors associated with suicide comprised: (i) socio-demographic factors (e.g., being aged between 31 and 50 years, male, married, unemployed), (ii) behavior and health-related factors (e.g., unavailability of alcohol and alcohol withdrawal symptoms, poor state of physical health and health issues, family disputes, relationship complexities, and sexual harassment), (iii) COVID-19-related factors (e.g., fear of COVID-19, COVID-19 test results, quarantine or isolation, financial hardship due to the pandemic, having influenza-like symptoms, experiencing stigmatization and ostracism despite testing negative, separation from family due to transport restrictions, misinterpreting other illness symptoms as COVID-19, saving the village from infection, watching COVID-19 videos on social media, online schooling, perceived stigma toward COVID-19, and being suspected of having COVID-19), and (iv) psychopathological stressors (depression, loneliness, stress, TikTok addiction, and poor mental health, suicidal tendencies, helplessness, and worrying). Hanging was the most common method of suicide. In addition, jumping from high buildings, poisoning, drowning, burning, cutting or slitting throat or wrists, self-immolation, medication overdose, electrocution, pesticide, and gun-shot were also used to carry out the suicide.ConclusionsFindings from this research suggest multiple reasons for suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic and knowledge of such factors could aid in developing suicide prevention strategies focusing the most vulnerable cohorts inside and outside India.
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It is considerably significant to recognize the psychology of undergraduates especially during the period of COVID-19 outbreak. This letter proposes an Information-Centric Networking (ICN) driven psychology recognition and health conduction method based on the active data collection mode, that is, all undergraduates submit their psychology data to manger without protest by the special sensor tool. Meanwhile, the involved undergraduates and the management center construct a large network model. In order to support the mobility of undergraduates, this letter exploits ICN paradigm to help the management and transmission of psychology data. In addition, this management center deploys Deep Belief Network (DBN) to analyze the submitted psychology data. Finally, this letter makes a practical simulation on campus, and the experimental results show that the proposed psychology control method not only has good recognition effect but also contributes to health conduction. To be specific, the proposed method can improve about 2.6% psychology recognition accuracy and decrease about 46.5% psychology recognition time. © 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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PurposeDespite major progress made in improving the health and well-being of millions of people, more efforts are needed for investment in 21st century health care. However, public hospital waiting lists continue to grow. At the same time, there has been increased investment in e-health and digital interventions to enhance population health and reduce hospital admissions. The purpose of this study is to highlight the accounting challenges associated with measuring, investing and accounting for value in this setting. The authors argue that this requires more nuanced performance metrics that effect a shift from a technical practice to one that embraces social and moral values.Design/methodology/approachThis research is based on field interviews held with clinicians, accountants and administrators in public hospitals throughout Australia and Europe. The field research and multidisciplinary narratives offer insights and issues relating to value and valuing and managing digital health investment decisions for the post-COVID-19 "value-based health-care” future of accounting in the hospital setting.FindingsThe authors find that the complex activity-based hospital funding models operate as a black box, with limited clinician understanding and hybridised accounting expertise for informed social, moral and ethical decision-making. While there is malleability of the health economics-derived activity-based hospital funding models, value contestation and conflict are evident in the operationalisation of these models in practice. Activity-based funding (ABF) mechanisms reward patient throughput volumes in hospitals but at the same time stymie investment in digital health. Although classified as strategic investments, there is a limit to strategic planning.Research limitations/implicationsAccounting in public hospitals has become increasingly visible and contested during the pandemic-driven health-care crisis. Further research is required to examine the hybridising accounting expertise as it is increasingly implicated in the incremental changes to ABF in the emergence of value-based health care and associated digital health investment strategies. Despite operationalising these health economic models in practice, accountants are currently being blamed for dysfunctional health-care decisions. Further education for practicing accountants is required to effect operational change. This includes education on the significant moral and ethical dilemmas that result from accounting for patient mix choices in public hospital service provision.Originality/valueThis research involved a multidisciplinary team from accounting, digital health, information systems, value-based health care and clinical expertise. Unique insights on the move to digital health care are provided. This study contributes to policy development and the limited value-based health-care literature in accounting.
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Purpose>This study aims to empirically develop a reliable and valid instrument measuring the online service quality in the context of the banking sector in India.Design/methodology/approach>The methodological framework of this research comprises developing an instrument that is based on previous literature, qualitative and quantitative procedure. The study used the survey method and collected data via a well-structured questionnaire from a sample of active Internet banking users. The proposed instrument is identified by the data-reduction technique that is exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and validated through the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).Findings>The results confirmed that the digital banking service quality scale (DBSQual) contains 24 items in seven dimensions: (1) web architecture, (2) user friendliness, (3) efficiency of website, (4) reliability, (5) responsiveness, (6) security and (7) personalization. The relationship between digital banking service quality and e-customer satisfaction has also been found to be significant in this study.Research limitations/implications>The results of this study do not find general application for different banks operating in the same sector in India. More testing of DBSQual is required across various different contexts for validity augmentation. In addition, findings would be more reliable if the non-Indian context could be taken into consideration. Thus, such limitations open a window for future research.Practical implications>This study is quite fruitful for the banking organizations in measuring their online services, and enables them to implement their marketing and operational strategies more effectively and efficiently.Originality/value>The contribution of this study is the development and validation of a new instrument that is DBSQual that contains seven determinants of customers' e-service quality perception, emphasis on measuring online service quality in the Indian banking sector. These determinants will offer banks a promising starting idea for establishing an effective quality management for their online businesses. They will be able to increase the opportunities by tapping themselves at a competitive edge.
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Purpose>The absence of physical interactions in online learning environment brings psychological influences on learning participants in interacting and sharing knowledge with others, such as ignorance of other member's presence and insecurity to share something in online environment. The purpose of this research was to examine the knowledge sharing behavior (KSB) by online learning community members in terms of their psychological safety (PS) and social presence (SP) perceptions. In addition, this research also identified the influence of PS to promote SP and the mediation impact of SP in the relationships between PS and KSB.Design/methodology/approach>The data were gathered through self-administered questionnaire distributed to 133 online class members at a university in Indonesia where online learning has created a new learning experience. To represent key behavioral attributes, 12 items were used to represent PS, SP and KSB. The relationships among the variables were analyzed using the structural equation modelling method.Findings>The result showed that PS positively influenced SP and KSB. SP also brought a positive impact on promoting KSB and fully mediated the relationship between PS and KSB.Research limitations/implications>The result may not have fully captured the reflection of the influencing factors of KSB, as this research focused only on two psychological factors, namely, PS and SP. The research may be further enriched by including additional factors and expanding the data collection to include more online learning institutions.Practical implications>The results implied the importance of PS and SP perception to promoting KSB in online learning environments. The results highlighted an important message to universities and schools to be more concerned on students' feeling safe personally and students' awareness of others' presence to maximize knowledge sharing activities in online class environment.Originality/value>This paper revealed the importance of PS and SP to promote KSB in the higher education online learning community. To the best of the researchers' knowledge, this is the first study to link PS and SP to KSB and identify the importance of the mediation effect of SP on the relationship between PS and KSB specifically in higher education online learning environment.
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This research note explores the pressing ethical challenges associated with increased online platforming of sensitive research on conflict-affected settings since the onset of Covid-19. We argue that moving research online and the ‘digitalisation of suffering' risks reducing complexity of social phenomena and omission of important aspects of lived experiences of violence or peace-building. Immersion, ‘contexting' and trust-building are fundamental to research in repressive and/or conflict-affected settings and these are vitally eclipsed in online exchanges and platforms. ‘Distanced research' thus bears very real epistemological limitations. Neither proximity not distance are in themselves liberating vectors. Nonetheless, we consider the opportunities that distancing offers in terms of its decolonial potential, principally in giving local researcher affiliates' agency in the research process and building more equitable collaborations. This research note therefore aims to propose a series of questions and launch a debate amongst interested scholars, practitioners and other researchers working in qualitative research methods in the social sciences.