Background
Brock University’s Care/Work Portrait Project was developed as a follow-up to the international Familydemic study, a large-scale research initiative examining family life, paid work and unpaid labour during the COVID-19 pandemic. Led by Distinguished Professor Andrea Doucet and a cross-university research team, the project explored how Canadian families organize, negotiate and experience caregiving responsibilities across different household structures and social contexts.
The research focused on diverse Canadian families, including Indigenous, racialized, immigrant, LGBTQ+, rural and low-income households, as well as families navigating disability, flexible work and parental leave arrangements.
Building on nationally representative survey data collected through the Canadian Familydemic study, the project combined quantitative and qualitative methods to better understand not only who performs household and childcare tasks, but how responsibilities, planning and the “mental load” are experienced and negotiated within families. Together, the survey and follow-up qualitative research contributed to a growing body of work examining caregiving, employment, well-being and family life during and after the pandemic.
Challenge
Understanding family life at a national scale required reaching a diverse group of Canadians across household structures, regions and communities.
The research required recruiting a diverse, nationally representative group of Canadian participants willing to engage in both survey research and in-depth interviews. Maintaining representation across regions, household structures and demographic groups was essential to ensuring the findings reflected the complexity of family life across Canada.
Solution
Brock University partnered with Angus Reid to support both the Canadian portion of the international Familydemic survey and the follow-on qualitative Care/Work Portrait research initiative.
Using its proprietary panel and national sampling expertise, Angus Reid helped recruit a representative Canadian sample for the Familydemic survey across provinces, household structures and demographic groups. The Brock University research team developed the study design and methodology, while Angus Reid managed programming, fielding, participant recruitment, recontact for follow-up qualitative interviews and incentive administration. The study design included quotas to ensure participation from historically underrepresented populations, including Indigenous, racialized, immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities, helping the research reflect the diversity and complexity of family life across Canada.
Beyond fielding the quantitative survey, Angus Reid identified and recruited participants willing to take part in detailed follow-up interviews about caregiving, household labour and family dynamics.
Angus Reid’s ability to support large-scale participant recruitment and recontact helped enable continuity between the quantitative and qualitative phases of the project, allowing the Brock University research team to build a robust mixed-methods dataset exploring how Canadian families experience care, work and household responsibility.
Results
The collaboration supported a significant body of mixed-methods research exploring caregiving, domestic labour, employment experiences and family life in Canada during and after the pandemic.
Key outcomes include:
- A nationally representative Canadian dataset examining paid and unpaid work during a period of major social disruption
- In-depth qualitative interviews with 155 participants across 88 Canadian households
- New insights into the division of caregiving responsibilities, household labour and the mental load within Canadian families
- Development and application of the Care/Work Portrait methodology and digital app
- Peer-reviewed academic publications examining fathers’ involvement in childcare, gender divisions of domestic labour, work-care dynamics, mental health and well-being, LGBTQ+ family experiences, invisible labour and rural family life
- Contributions to broader policy and academic discussions around parental leave, flexible work arrangements, caregiving equity and mental load
The study demonstrated the value of combining nationally representative survey research with follow-up couple interviews to better understand both observable household tasks and the less visible responsibilities involved in caregiving and family life.
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