Recent developments within new digital technologies have led to an increase in the use of video as a research tool (Banks, 1995, 2001; Pink, 2001; Rose, 2001; Prosser, 1992, 1998; Niestyo, 2002; Voithofer, 2005).. Not only has video grown in popularity because of the increased availability of new technology, and the relative increase in cost of direct observation, but also because of the cultural cache associated with it as a medium. This is particularly the case within participatory research, particularly with young people and those who are at risk. Its popularity within participatory, emancipatory and social action forms of research is because it is seen as a medium   with the capacity for mass or non-specialist audiences to engage with the processes and outcomes of research (Braden, 1999).

Running in parallel with these developments in research communities a wide range of practitioners and community groups across Europe have become involved in using video in their working with youth people at risk issues. In these instances the primary aim is often to provide them with a ‘voice’ and to gain insight into their perspectives on specific social issues and the ways in which they are treated by those services that target them.  The discussions between researchers and practitioners involved in participatory projects often juxtapose video with issues of ‘voice’ and power and control over the research process. 

In this paper we want to report the findings of a recently completed project concerned with exploring the key methodological and ethical issues researchers and practitioners faced when working with video and young people, often groups categorized as being at risk, in a participatory way. The key research questions were.

a)     Were there distinct issues, methodological or ethical,  that arose specifically because of the interactions of video, participatory research and young people?

b)    Were there issues of such significance in any of these three areas that they defined/dominated the nature of these interactions?

c)     Which of these issues, or combination, have most affected the form of projects being undertaken and presented the greatest challenges to researchers?

These specific questions raised the more general philosophical issue of whether there is such a thing as an epistemology of participatory video and whether it is creating a distinct methodology with its own set of challenges. 

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