Abstract:

The use of tape or video recorders in research is now well-established and widely accepted by informants. Two issues arise under the International Code of Marketing and Social Research Practice:

1. What form of permission must be obtained from informants when such equipment is used?

2. How far can tape or video recordings be played and/or supplied to people outside the research organization carrying out the research?

These two issues are interrelated. The reasons why they are important are that informants' right to withdraw from the interview or to have any or all of the information they have given destroyed, must be protected and no element of deception should be involved in this connection, and there must be no danger of breaching the rules in anonymity.