In this article, we call for Canadian digital literacies researchers to invest in designs and research methods that centralise in-the-moment insights, embrace complexity, and that are informed by a deep commitment to authentic, ethical reciprocity that serves the communities in which our work is placed. We present three cases that offer multiple perspectives for how we might operationalise these principles, and we consider implications for the use of data collected with new approaches to digital literacies assessment, with virtual retrospective think alouds, eye-tracking, and spy glasses video. As the first coauthored article by The Digital Literacies Collective, this article contributes our shared position on the methodological priorities that will enable Canadian digital literacies researchers to construct new, contextually-situated frameworks that inform digital literacies policies and practices in Canadian systems of schooling.