Social VR introduces new ethical challenges for observational research. The current paper presents a narrative literature review of ethical considerations in observational methods, with a focus on work in HCI. We examine how unobtrusive or selectively disclosed observation is implemented in public face-to-face and social VR settings. Our review extends ethical discussions from traditional public research into the context of social VR, highlighting tensions between observer visibility, data traceability, and participant autonomy. Drawing on insights distilled from prior literature, we propose five constructive guidelines for ethical observational research in public social VR environments. Our work offers key implications for future research, addressing anticipated improvements in platform design, the management of researcher presence, and the development of community-informed consent mechanisms.

翻译：社交虚拟现实为观察性研究带来了新的伦理挑战。本文通过叙事性文献综述，系统梳理了观察方法中的伦理考量，重点关注人机交互领域的研究。我们考察了非介入式或选择性披露的观察如何在公共面对面环境和社交虚拟现实环境中实施。本综述将传统公共研究的伦理讨论延伸至社交虚拟现实情境，揭示了观察者可见性、数据可追溯性与参与者自主性之间的张力。基于对现有文献的深入分析，我们提出了针对公共社交虚拟现实环境中伦理观察研究的五项建设性准则。本研究为未来研究提供了关键启示，涉及平台设计的预期改进、研究者在场的管理，以及基于社区共识的知情同意机制的构建。