Pink Walking with video
Walking with video is a phenomelogical research method. Researchers walk with their participants and filmed the process. It is argued that the method provides sensory experience and allows reserachers to learn empathetically about their participants' experience.
The article starts with the author Pink's own walking with video experience in which she walked with a couple around a garden. The couple showed her some features of the garden. Sometimes the camera was drawn to the ground as the couple showed Pink the textures of the soil.
According to Pink, the "video tour" increases "understandings of the identities, moralities, values, beliefs and concerns of the people they do their research with".
In addition, with the "walking with" audiovisual methods of research, participants better communicate their perception of their environment. Also the filmmaking draws people, things and sensory experiences together.
I like in particular the combination of video tour with interview conducted by Lund who researched some mountaineers. We've talked about interviewing before and it is obvious that interview has its own limits. For example, the interviewees might not be able to describe their experience accurately or there might be some blurring in their memory of the event. Walking with video can substaintially compensate the disadvantages. At the same time, the video also provides readers with a clear understanding of the experience in the research.
Limits of the method might be the inability to provide a complete first person visual presentation of the participant. The video can only record what the participant is doing while cannot record what they see at the very moment. So if the participant suddenly sees something and reacts severely, which is a very important instant for researchers to look into, the camera is very likely to fail to record what the participant suddenly sees. In such case, postinterview is the most efficient method to overcome the disadvantage.
This is a very interesting method, and it is the first time I hear about it. I believe video can surely provide a rich collection of data, but being around a camera might influence participant behaviour. One remarkable advantage is that the recordings can be seen multiple times, allowing the researcher to later notice details that may go by unseen at the moment of the interview.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of data capture, using video seems a fairly comprehensive way of gathering as much visual evidence as possible. There is also the benefit, as Lilian notes, of being able to return to the video over and over again to re-watch and pick up on different elements perhaps missed before. I am reminded of something that Susan said in a recent class, that research has in the past been very focused on the visual, on what we can see. Using video as a form of data collection reduces the other senses to secondary responses. In many types of research this is probably for the best, but I wonder what types of research projects there might be where this serves as a limitation. For Lund and his research on mountaineers - the other senses may play a very important role - touch, smell, hearing. The video depiction of a mountaineer experience would not be able to capture the holistic experience where the elements would play an important role in shaping the human experience.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of data capture, using video seems a fairly comprehensive way of gathering as much visual evidence as possible. There is also the benefit, as Lilian notes, of being able to return to the video over and over again to re-watch and pick up on different elements perhaps missed before. I am reminded of something that Susan said in a recent class, that research has in the past been very focused on the visual, on what we can see. Using video as a form of data collection reduces the other senses to secondary responses. In many types of research this is probably for the best, but I wonder what types of research projects there might be where this serves as a limitation. For Lund and his research on mountaineers - the other senses may play a very important role - touch, smell, hearing. The video depiction of a mountaineer experience would not be able to capture the holistic experience where the elements would play an important role in shaping the human experience.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this very rich and thoughtful discussion!
ReplyDelete