Ethical Considerations and Methodology for Documenting Deaf Cultural Data

Abstract

For years, documentary research methods have focused on hearing-world-centric techniques. There has been very little research up till now on identifying problematic and in some cases, unethical practices in documenting deaf culture by researchers who lack knowledge of deaf culture. This paper makes the case for developing culturally responsive methods for documenting deaf culture, and seeks to break new ground by developing a deaf-world centric course that reflects the ethical considerations for documenting deaf culture and using appropriate interview technology. This paper primarily focuses on documenting name signs through signed narratives, and uses Lantz Mills deaf village as a case study for using a multi-sited ethnographic approach to responsible data collection. it includes a syllabus and a sample module for an online course which will introduce researchers to appropriate methodologies