Scientific aims

During this training week, 2 types of methodological issues will be studied. 

1) combination of video recording with other types of data

Generally, videorecording is not the only method researchers use to produce empirical data when they study some learning situations. A lot of them also use interviews, questionnaires, or document collections in order to gain insights into the broader social context, or provide additional traces of the actors' activities (e.g. student notebooks). Some researchers also use ethnographic observations (fieldnotes) during a more or less long time before starting to record, in order to gain acception by the group under study and/or be more informed about the organisation of their social practices. For some others, who prefer observations over longer periods of time, film recording do not constitute primary data, but an auxiliary or punctual way to get more precise information about some time-limited social scenes. In these different cases, researchers nevertheless have in common to use and combine different types of empirical data to understand, analyse and interpret the situations and practices under study. Even in the most "micro" approaches (ethnomethodology, conversational analysis, etc.), researchers not only rely on information extracted from video recordings to understand what is going on in a situation. They also use, often in a implicit way, knowledge about the  social background, (institutional or organizational features, previous social events, history of relations between certain actors, etc.) (Cicourel, 2007[1981]).

Consequently, in most cases, some important methodological questions must be addressed concerning the different types of data production modes that are pertinent to use and combine according to a given scientific project, the characteristics of the empirical field and theoretical orientations (Olivier de Sardan, 1995).Some questions arise: What are the technical and social possibilities according to a specific social and material context? What types of data production tools and methods can be used? How can  different types of data combined in a corpus to produce analyses and interpretations? What concrete steps do researchers have to follow to do this? How do the characteristics of the types of media used  influence the recording of the phenomena observed and their subsequent perceptions by researchers when they conduct their analyses ?

2) Methods and tools for visualising data 

The second methodological issue is about the methods and tools that can be devised to visualise data in order to analyze a corpus or to present research results. The issue is about visual representations that can be made by researchers so as to see what they want to see or show what they want to show. Thus, it can be interesting to build a diagram from data coding in order to represent occurrences of phenomena or processes. Another example concerns the superimposition of graphic symbols, text indications, or even audio comments on a videoclip to guide the viewer's attention to some particular phenomena. This type of visual representation, based on multimodality (text, image, sound, graphics and multimedia), constitutes a point of articulation between theory and empirical data. During the workshop, participants will have the opportunity to explore different possibilities offered by digital technologies to build various and creative types of visual representation. In the process, beyond technical possibilities, reflection will also be carried out about the types of visual representation that are coherent with specific research issues and theoretical choices.

To study these 2 methodological issues, the IR-Video 3 thematic school will involve several internationally recognized researchers for their expertise in using video-recording for studying human practices and learning situations.