What is it about?
This commentary describes ethical issues that may arise in research that uses automated digital data collection and data processing methods to study children’s language development. Leaning on our own experience collecting and analyzing “big data” on the interactions of children and teachers in preschool classrooms for children with and without hearing loss, we conducted interviews with teachers, school administrators, clinicians, academic researchers, parents of children with and without hearing loss, and other community members to better understand potential areas of ethical concern. In the commentary, we identify and discuss three such areas: (a) the protection of personally identifiable data when data are stored and shared among researchers; (b) issues related to sharing results of the research with participants; and (c) whether, and if so with whom, unexpected (“incidental”) findings should be shared.
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Why is it important?
The use of digital data collection technologies and automated data analysis has radically increased the volume and variety of data that researchers collect, curate, analyze, report on, and often share with large data repositories. These advances are creating a new ethical landscape whose risks have yet to be fully understood. Thus, this commentary provides a call for researchers to carefully consider the potential risks introduced by new digital technologies and, together with our research participants and research partners, map out ways to advance the goals of our research while continuing to honor our responsibility to minimize risks for our participants.
Perspectives
Key contributors to our investigation were teachers and parents of the children whose language experiences we are studying using automated digital technologies. Many of these adults emphasized the importance of trust in the relationship between researchers and research participants. I believe that developing this kind of trust is critical to successfully addressing the ethical dilemmas that may arise as we collect ever vaster stores of digital data to answer important research questions.
Batya Elbaum
University of Miami
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Use of Automated Digital Data in Speech, Language, and Hearing Research: Confronting a New Ethical Landscape, Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, June 2025, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA),
DOI: 10.1044/2025_jslhr-24-00819.
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