As our modern world has become increasingly digitalized, various types of data from different data domains are available that can enrich survey data. To link survey data to other sources, consent from the survey respondents is required. This article compares consent to data linkage requests for seven data domains: administrative data, smartphone…

The global scale of COVID-19 has constrained academics from conducting much person-facing research. Reactively, trend is increasing for digital-based methodologies capturing already existing online data. Scholars often 'scrape' user-postings from internet forums using coding algorithms and text capture tools, before analysing data, drawing…

While digital tools are often recommended for researchers, there is a lack of evidence around effective social media strategies among researchers to optimise participant recruitment and data collection. However, an 'add Facebook and stir' approach could create extra burden for participants or foil researchers' efforts. Participant recruitment…

Obtaining informed consent can be challenging during peer research when the boundaries between researcher and participant are blurred. We developed a novel visual consent method with illiterate artists in Nepal who conducted peer interviews in their communities. Artists discussed and sketched images related to ethical principles to create a visual…

Typically, parents or other legal guardians are asked for an active declaration that the participation of their child in scientific research is informed and voluntary. However, asking for active parental consent leads to lower quality studies and passive parental consent might be preferable. In this study, we used an online survey in which parents…

It is widely assumed that researchers must normally secure informed consent from participants if research is to be ethical. But what exactly are people being asked to consent to? Most obviously, it is to supplying, or providing access to, data; but are they also agreeing that this data can be used in any way relevant to the research, or do they…

Activist groups in ethnographic research re-negotiated our Ethics Committee's expected order of securing consent before data collection, demonstrating the importance of researchers taking time to build relationships first. Although the Ethics Committee expected us to obtain group consent, the literature provides little guidance on how to do this.…

There is a growing literature that seeks to explore what is 'sensitive' about 'sensitive' research. In order to problematise and interrogate the concept of what may or may not be considered 'sensitive' research, this paper draws on four related projects exploring sex, intimacy and relationships for young people, over 16 years, who have…

This study constitutes the first longitudinal exploration of consent to link survey and administrative data. It examines variations in consent over time and explores the influence of the respondents' characteristics (both observed and latent) and the impact of the interviewers on consent co-operation. Respondent inclination to consent is modelled…

Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) has been proposed as an equitable, empowering partnership approach to collaborative research. International literature about the ethical implications of CBPR suggests a continuing strong interest in the topic. However, there is a notable lack of research that captures the "experience" of…

Co-producing research is complex and messy. This paper draws on Tina Cook's argument for the systematic inclusion of 'mess' in research accounts as a conceptual framework through which to articulate areas of ethical mess from within a co-produced research project. Through narrating the 'messy' ethical complications the paper illustrates a number…

Some social scientists have criticised the workings of research-ethics committees on the grounds that their biomedical model is ill-suited to some social-science research in both practical and philosophical terms. In this paper we review these criticisms and propose an alternative approach to pre-research ethical review that is based on the…

Obtaining informed consent can be challenging in stressful and urgent circumstances. One example is when potential participants have recently had their child removed into care; intervention is urgent and mandatory whereas participation in associated research is voluntary. Using a nested qualitative study, we examined experiences of consent…

This paper focuses on microethical issues concerning interactions in which the process of informed consent occurs. It draws on research analysing the biographies and future hopes of 15- to 17-year-old girls and boys participating in targeted youth/educational programmes in the Helsinki area. The ethical challenge explored here is how to negotiate…

Understanding factors associated with consent for data linkage has largely focussed on adults, but parents or guardians can also be asked to consent on behalf of children for whom they are responsible. A framework for consent decision is presented, and is tested using a large nationally representative survey asking mothers to consent for both…