Background Internationally, interdisciplinary research is advocated in healthcare. Such research receives great respect, particularly from funding bodies, which expect innovations in healthcare to emerge from a whole team rather than a single discipline. However, little guidance exists about the process and structures for such research.

Aim To explore and explain the use of videoed workshops and mixed-media artefacts to collect data, and explore the benefits and challenges for interdisciplinary healthcare research.

Data sources Videoed workshops were used to ascertain the preferences of eight people who have disabilities concerning assistive technology. These workshops are used to demonstrate the method’s benefits and related challenges for interdisciplinary healthcare research.

Discussion This method of collecting data has important potential benefits for healthcare research. Future research in healthcare must not only be interdisciplinary, it should also involve a range of research designs that are adaptive and responsive to service users’ needs and use innovative methods of collecting data.

Conclusion The use of video and photography in interdisciplinary research for healthcare technology is an exciting possibility, but it poses ethical and practical considerations.

Implications for research Videos and photography area a useful aid in interdisciplinary research and can be a valuable means of non-verbal data collection, especially with participants affected by disabilities, and can support research methods, such as the use of questionnaires.