Reflecting on rapport: strategies for online interviews about sensitive or distressing topics with vulnerable children

Establishing and building rapport is a crucial aspect of research interviews with children and families. With interviews increasingly conducted via online platforms, such as Teams and Zoom, researchers are challenged to reflect on relational aspects, such as building rapport, when using this medium and how approaches may need to be nuanced. This is of particular significance when the topic of the interview is potentially sensitive or may cause distress to a child. This paper builds on the CHE (Connectivity, Humanness, Empathy) principles for building rapport and trust in face-to-face by extending these principles to the phenomenon of online interviews with children on sensitive or distressing topics. It draws on an investigation into the experiences of children with dyslexia to illustrate the value of employing the CHE principles and a range of strategies to reduce potential vulnerability or levels of anxiety of participants. The examples provided illustrate how research via online interviews with children on sensitive or distressing topics in an online environment need not detract from the researcher's ability to build trust create and an empathetic rapport.