Work

Video recording as a data collection method in vulnerable populations - methodological and ethical considerations

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Video recording vulnerable situations in healthcare practice raises ethical challenges that require addressing throughout the research process. Such challenges are linked to protecting research participants and assessing when and how using video recordings is appropriate. This article aims to present methodological and ethical considerations inherent in video recording vulnerable participants and to offer future researchers concrete guidance and inspiration as to how they might assess these aspects of their own planned video research. As a group of researchers who have used video recordings to collect data of patients in vulnerable situations, we reflect upon our own methodological and ethical choices against the backdrop of other research studies and ethical guidelines. Video recordings provide a unique opportunity to observe human interaction and to understand more about how we relate to each other. This article contributes to knowledge regarding empirically and ethically sound practice. We have demonstrated how methodological and ethical considerations are intertwined and should be treated as such. There are no existing guidelines or tools specifically for conducting and reporting qualitative studies using video recording that link the ethical considerations to the methodological choices. This article could provide a point of departure for establishing a reflective tool. • Video recording enables observing human interaction and relationship. • Addressing ethical challenges is essential when using video recording in research. • Methodological and ethical considerations in video research are intertwined. • Methodological and ethical reflection provides guidance and inspiration. • A standard or checklist that can ensure the ethical quality of video research is required.

Source: PEC Innovation

DOI: 10.1016/j.pecinn.2025.100432

Authors: Marte-Marie Wallander Karlsen, Kari Sørensen, Berit Hofset Larsen, Lena Günterberg Heyn, Jennifer Gerwing

Institutions: Lovisenberg Diakonale Høgskole, University of Oslo, University of South-Eastern Norway, Akershus University Hospital

Language: English

Topic: Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,790

Funder: Lovisenberg Diakonale Høgskole