m-Research: Ethical issues in researching young people’s use of mobile devices.

Burden, K., Schuck, S., & Aubusson, P. (2012). m-Research: Ethical issues in researching young people’s use of mobile devices. Youth Studies Australia, 31(3), pp. 17-26.


Abstract: A growing area of research concerns the increasing use by young people of mobile phones. Inevitably, researchers interested in exploring the lives and habitus of young people must also consider their engagement with the ubiquitous mobile. This research, however, can create a number of ethical dilemmas, some that are already discussed in literature on internet use and ethics, but also others that are more specifically related to mobile usage, such as the trail left by the data from mobile technologies, and the inclusion of third parties in research without explicit permission. This article discusses the ethical dilemmas arising in this research with young people; it indicates how these dilemmas may challenge current research ethics guidelines and provides recommendations for ethical research in these situations.

(This long-standing journal has experienced significant funding constraints and is now no longer in print. Perhaps for this reason, sometimes it seems that the links below do not work. If you cannot get them to open, try a general internet search using the title of the article and you should be able to locate the article and open access pdf.)

Publisher’s Link
Open Access