ABSTRACT
Video is becoming the medium of choice for collecting data for educational and social science research projects. There are many reasons for choosing video: Videotape can preserve more aspects of interaction including talking, gesture, eye gaze, manipulatives, and computer displays. Moreover, video allows repeated observation of the same event and supports microanalysis and multidisciplinary analysis. Video also enables researchers to leave controlled laboratory settings and enter naturalistic fieldwork. Finally, video provides analytical benefits: It can support grounded theory, whereby the emergence of new categories from source materials is rigorously controlled. Video can avoid the “what I say” versus “what I do” problem that can occur in self-reports. Video supports a critical incident methodology but also allows examination of the antecedents and consequences of the critical event.
