TY - JOUR
T1 - Through the Zoom window
T2 - how children use virtual technologies to navigate power dynamics in research
AU - Fechtel, Hannah
AU - Ruiz, Sienna
AU - Spray, Julie
AU - Waters, Erika A.
AU - Shepperd, James
AU - Hunleth, Jean
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Virtual technologies gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic for use in research, including research with children. As scholarship from the field of science, technology and society (STS) suggests, technologies are never neutral, but embedded with social values and, as such, used by people to navigate identities and relationships. Building on childhood studies research that has shown how children appropriate and use research tools, this article asks: How do child research participants use this virtual ‘window’ into their homes and their lives? Using observations from a virtual and in-person study in the United States, we show how children used virtual technologies to manage relationships, filter what researchers saw of their lives, and navigate issues of privacy and self-disclosure. We conclude that analysing children’s interactions with research technologies offers important indicators to guide researchers attending to ethical issues of power for both in-person and virtual research with children.
AB - Virtual technologies gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic for use in research, including research with children. As scholarship from the field of science, technology and society (STS) suggests, technologies are never neutral, but embedded with social values and, as such, used by people to navigate identities and relationships. Building on childhood studies research that has shown how children appropriate and use research tools, this article asks: How do child research participants use this virtual ‘window’ into their homes and their lives? Using observations from a virtual and in-person study in the United States, we show how children used virtual technologies to manage relationships, filter what researchers saw of their lives, and navigate issues of privacy and self-disclosure. We conclude that analysing children’s interactions with research technologies offers important indicators to guide researchers attending to ethical issues of power for both in-person and virtual research with children.
KW - Science, technology and society (STS)
KW - qualitative health research
KW - research with children
KW - virtual methodologies
KW - zoom interviewing
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85164512500&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13645579.2023.2231756
DO - 10.1080/13645579.2023.2231756
M3 - Article
C2 - 39345844
AN - SCOPUS:85164512500
SN - 1364-5579
VL - 27
SP - 575
EP - 588
JO - International Journal of Social Research Methodology
JF - International Journal of Social Research Methodology
IS - 5
ER -