Video ethnography methods

1. Video ethnography methods Joel Kuipers Department of Anthropology George Washington University Kuipers@gwu.edu

2. Research design: A Video Ethnography • Ethnography: detailed description of the communicative system of a culture and the culturally defined situations in which relevant distinctions in that system occur(Conklin 1962) • During one class period, a linguistically, ethnically, and academically heterogeneous lab table of four 8th-grade children was filmed every day for approximately 8 weeks, including 3 weeks prior to the implementation of the HR curriculum. • Another camera filmed a different table each day for comparison purposes.

3. Research design: A Video Ethnography • Focused on Chemistry That Applies, highly rated by AAAS Project 2061. • Teachers volunteered their classrooms; offered a camcorder in exchange • The students’ activities were recorded and digitized; lessons were transcribed and analyzed using Atlas.ti software • Year 1 - 68 hours of video  a corpus of over 1800 pages of on-line searchable transcriptions linked to video

4. Research design • How do HR curricula function? Holistically, human communicative activities consist of pragmatic,syntactic, and semantic functions (Morris 1938; Hymes 1980; Engestrom et al 1999). • Many aspects of these functions can be captured with codes that describe: • Pragmatic Interactional features operationalized as “clarification practices” (cf. 2061 #1 Convey lesson purpose) • Syntactic and Linguistic features operationalized as use of scientific register - (cf. 2061 # 4 Use scientific ideas and terminology) • Semantic, referential features operationalized as object manipulation - (cf. 2061 #3 Direct experience with relevant phenomena).

5. Gathering data: practicalities • The students’ speech was recorded with a Canon GL2 camera and a pair of Audio Technica boundary microphones placed on the table. • Microphones were connected to the camera via a radio transmitter. • Video tapes were digitized using MPEG-1 codec using both hardware encoder card (Primeview), and software encoder (Pinnacle v. 9). • Backups made on CD ROMs • Primary data placed on a central 1 TB RAID, accessed by 9 computers connected via a 100Mbs switch.

6. Software analysis • Videos linked to transcription via Atlas.ti, a qualitative database program • Using the quotation function of Atlas, each video was divided exhaustively into contiguous time “segments” corresponding roughly to a turn at talk • Each “quotation” was transcribed into the Atlas COMMENT area using the transcription conventions in Edwards 1992 Talking Data. • Completed transcriptions were saved as Primary Documents, hyperlinked to video via a supplementary software program, “Filesort” • Keyword searches on the transcript produce corresponding spot on the video

7. Atlas.ti video analysis • Transcriptions on the left • Codings on the right (hyperlinked to video)

8. Searching the database • Hyperlinked corpus permits complex Boolean searches by student, word, phrase, lesson, many other dimensions • Part of speech tagger - Connexor • Concordance - Wordsmith - OUP

9. Presentations • MPEG videos edited and titled using “native” MPEG editors (Honestech and Clipview)

10. Some difficult issues • While video provides in-depth analysis of particular scenes, how representative is it? • Our sample vs. corpus measure • Quantification of ethnographic data: how can we measure interrater reliability? • Different raters coded the same transcripts for “clarification” “object manipulation” and “scientific term use” – reached approximately 80% agreement.

11. Ethical issues • Ethical issues • Protecting identities of children –use of color negative, pseudonyms • Keeping control over circulation of videos – use of streaming technology • Informed consent – parents of all children signed release forms granting use of videos in professional contexts.

12. Ethnographic Approach:theoretical framework and research question • Learning takes place in sociohistorical contexts • Vygotsky 1979 • These contexts consist of acts of participation in culturally defined activities • Lave and Wenger 1991; Wenger 1998 • Research question: How does a highly rated science curriculum unit function in the context of diverse middle school classrooms?

13. An example.. • Experiment to demonstrate the conservation of matter by weighing vinegar and baking soda mixed and unmixed in both a closed and open environment

14. Philip weighs the bottle Natalie Philip • To explore benchmark concepts of conservation of matter, Philip directly manipulates a relevant object (2061 #4) • Sean requests clarification reflecting lesson purpose (2061 #1) • Natalie offers peer remedy (2061 #1) • Sean uses scientific register (‘before weight’) as part of a scientific register (2061 #3) Sean

15. Patterns of Clarification • A clarification episode is an interactional sequence initiated by a trouble marker and followed by one or more remedies. A trouble marker is a verbal or non-verbal conventional form that signals a discontinuity in communication. A remedy is a verbal or non-verbal response to a trouble marker. • Sean often accesses benchmark ideas by expressing conceptual trouble • Philip expresses benchmark idea by remedying the “trouble” of others in group contexts

16. Scientific register as STU • Given Sean’s low overall level of participation, his percentage of STU is high as a way of expressing the benchmark ideas • Gloria and Natalie have lowest STU at table, but average for class

17. Object Manipulation • While Natalie and Gloria speak the most (1044x and 973x), they manipulate objects less than Philip or Sean; • Sean and Philip engage manually more often, but speak less.

18. Conclusions • The students interpreted the curriculum by using scientific terms, manipulating objects and engaging in clarification practices, exhibiting both variation amongst themselves and functional contrasts in context. • CTA offered a variety of avenues to approach the benchmark concept

19. Contact info: • Joel Kuipers, Professor, Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, kuipers@gwu.edu • www.gwu.edu/~scale-up • Dr. Gail Viechnicki, Post Doctoral Researcher, Anthropology, GWU, gbv@gwu.edu • Emily F. Bruno, Research Assistant ekfugate@gwu.edu