Recording research sessions
Last Updated:
You may record your session IF the participant gives you permission to do so. Perigean Technologies maintains Zoom accounts for user research which has the ability to record.
Legal guidelines
OCTO is adhering to the following guidelines for research recordings & consent forms: This guideline was developed to advise investigators and help them with the responsibility of record retention. There are many ways in which record retention can be accomplished, but the following criteria are required: a) the confidentiality of the subject must be maintained; b) the records must be stored appropriately, locked, and accessible to only those listed in the approved study; c) the records including the signed informed consent forms are kept for at least 3 years (6 years if PHI), and d) the signed informed consent forms must be effectively destroyed and therefore no longer accessible to anyone. These requirements are the responsibility of the principal investigator and must be considered at all times.
Asking permission during a session
The following are guidelines for asking permission to record:
In the introduction to your session, you must ASK for permission BEFORE you start recording.
You must explain how the recording will be used.
Once you start recording, you must let the participant know they're being recorded and have them acknowledge that they give permission.
The conversation guide template has sample language to guide you through this.
Frequently asked questions about recording research sessions
Do I have to stop recording if a participant needs to sign in or enter PII?
No, you don’t have to stop recording if a participant needs to sign in or starts to enter PII. If you’re using the recording for synthesis, you’re good as you’ll be securely disposing of the recording once you’re done.
If you're creating clips, you’ll need to first scrub out the PII/PHI, then store it locally, NOT on GitHub or any other cloud-sharing tool (i.e. YouTube, Slack, Google, etc.).
What do I do with the recording when I'm done with the session?
Recordings are automatically stored in the cloud after the completion of a session. You’ll have up to seven days to download an individual recording to your hard drive from the day it was recorded while the study is ongoing and up to 24 hrs after the close of the study. Perigean will ask you for positive confirmation that you’ve finished downloading your recordings before they delete them to make room for the next study.
You may keep the recordings for as long as needed to complete your synthesis. When you're done with synthesis, securely discard the recordings. DO NOT POST recordings to YouTube, Slack, or GitHub.
What if I want to include a clip from a research session in a presentation or other communication?
Creating clips for communication and presentation purposes is permitted if you follow these steps:
Create a clip
Scrub clip of PII & PHI
Have it reviewed by OCTO
Get consent from the participant
Once you’ve followed these steps you can store the clip in GitHub for use in reports and presentations. You may NOT store these scrubbed clips in any other cloud-sharing tool (i.e. YouTube, Slack, Google, etc.) that an entire team or the general public can access.
Step 1: Create a clip
First, you need to crop the session recording to the shortest possible clip you can make and scrub out all PII and PHI using video editing software.
Step 2: Scrub clip of PII & PHI
Removing a user's personal and/or health information is important for anonymity and identity protection. If you're conducting research and the user has provided any combination of the following, the video needs to be scrubbed of:
Names
Address (whole or part)
Phone Numbers
Fax numbers
Email addresses
Social Security numbers
General educational credentials
Dates (other than year) directly related to an individual
When in doubt, scrub it out: If you aren't sure if something qualifies as PII or PHI, you should consider scrubbing it from the video before socializing.
Follow these steps to scrub your clip of PII and or PHI
Step 3: Have the clip reviewed
Reach out to Shane Strassberg or Kevin Hoffman to review the clip.
Step 4: Get the participant's permission
Once approved, you’ll need to get permission from the participant to use the recording in any way beyond research synthesis. To get permission, send a Slack message to the Perigean support person you worked with for your study and ask them to contact “Participant X” to get consent to use the clip. Perigean will reach out to the participant and let you know once permission has been granted.
Help and feedback
Get help from the Platform Support Team in Slack.
Submit a feature idea to the Platform.