Innovations in unobtrusive methods

Andrew P. Knight explores developments in unobtrusive research methods using unconventional sources of data from computer-based systems and tools. These generate novel measures of behaviour based on the digital trace data that we all generate, online access to public and personal archives, wearable sensors, and the automatic coding of text, and audio and video recordings. Smartphones and wristbands are just two of the growing range of connected devices that are capable of capturing and sharing multimedia information in real-time. Devices such as these offer new ways in which researchers can gather data at low cost, avoiding reactance effects, allowing the study of how phenomena change over time, and expanding the scale of research, given the wide dissemination of the technology. Before adopting these methods, researchers need to consider whether they have the expertise, and the ethical issues raised by using information (which may be in the public domain) without informed consent.