Chapter

Collecting video data: The role of the researcher

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Abstract

In this chapter, we discuss three different projects and three different types of researcher roles when collecting video data. The chapter is a discussion of the roles that we have taken up in actual research projects. We describe some how-to notions from camera positioning to interacting with participants and some of the problems that we found

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... Furthermore, using Kaupapa Māori aligns with playback methodology as described in the Research Design chapter (Tannen, 1984). Playback methodology (Norris, Geenen, Metten & Pirini, 2014) allowed the participants to give feedback on data pieces that I analysed which contributed to the analysis overall. Also, as mentioned in the Research Design chapter, playback methodology highlights the importance of the relationship between the researcher and the participants, which contributes to the va, the relational space between them. ...
... In order to analyse the discourses that contribute to the outer, intermediary and central layers a researcher needs to 'understand' them and this can be achieved through an ethnographic study of participants. Through ethnographic observation a researcher achieves a more holistic perspective which contributes to their analysis (Norris, Geenen, Metten & Pirini, 2014). ...
... In this chapter I have discussed the importance of utilising Kaupapa Māori theory as an overarching methodology as it ensures that participants are represented accurately and that their agency is protected. It also aligns with playback methodology (Tannen, 1984;Norris et al, 2014), an important part of data analysis within MIA. I have also reviewed three prominent approaches to multimodal data analysis, MCA, social semiotics and MIA by summarising their theoretical underpinnings and comparing analysis of the same video excerpt. ...
Thesis
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This thesis examines the construction of hybrid and fluid ethnic identity elements as produced by Māori and Pacific female artists. Ethnic identity studies within New Zealand reveal different types of ethnic identities, and although there is research being conducted into hybrid and fluid Māori and Pacific identity elements, no studies have been done examining the construction of these identities through mediated action. This thesis attempts to fill this gap. Using video ethnography and socio-linguistic interviews, data were collected and analysed utilising multimodal (inter)action analysis (MIA) as the theoretical and methodological framework. Vertical identity production and site of engagement are analytical tools within MIA that allow for the study of the intersection between discourses and mediated actions performed by social actors. These analytical tools were applied to interview and video transcripts selected from the data, following a systematic process of data cataloguing. Analysis of the data is presented in three chapters which show the ethnic and creative identity production of the participants as constructed through the central, intermediary and outer layers of discourse. The first analysis chapter demonstrates the way the participants create art by blending traditional and contemporary features and diverse knowledge, in turn constructing their immediate ethnic and creative identity elements. This analysis is compared to the way the participants verbalise these identity elements within their interviews. The second analysis chapter examines the way experiences of exclusion and inclusion from within their networks shape their continuous ethnic and creative identity elements. The third analysis chapter explores moments of exclusion and inclusion but within larger communities such as mainstream New Zealand, and their ethnic communities. It also illustrates the way in which the participants’ art creates inclusion and shapes the general ethnic and creative identity development of other social actors. Following this, wider discourses and practices are examined using the site of engagement as the analytical tool. This chapter demonstrates the way in which wider discourses such as colonial, superiority/inferiority and racism discourse intersect with practices such as superiority/inferiority, gratitude, and marginalisation and with the mediated actions performed by the participants. This analysis highlights the negative impact these discourses and practices can have on ethnic identity construction for Māori and Pacific social actors. To this end, numerous recommendations are made within the conclusion with the intention of changing these wider discourses and practices. This thesis contributes to knowledge in the area of Māori and Pacific identity studies by utilising multimodal (inter)action analysis to study identity production. It also contributes to the theoretical and methodological framework of multimodal (inter)action analysis.
Conference Paper
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This paper reports on analysis from a corpus of audio-video recorded interactions during a collaborative building task. The task generates distinct knowledge asymmetries which motivate interaction toward acquiring shared understandings. The analysis suggests that the convergence of the communicative modes of posture and gaze is crucial to producing shared knowledge. These findings support claims that there are no fixed norms for gaze distribution and postural orientation in interaction, but that these are heavily influenced by the environment and task. Furthermore, the findings suggest participants prioritise producing communicative intersubjectivity over perceptual intersubjectivity. The implications of these findings for the nature of intersubjectivity and research into teamwork are considered.
Article
Full-text available
Unlike the wide-ranging methodological debates surrounding the accomplishment and analysis of interviews, fieldwork and focus groups, the discussions concerning the use of video data tend to focus on a few frequently rehearsed issues. In this article we wish to broaden the consideration of methodological concerns related to video. We address the problems faced when collecting data, particularly on how to select the framing for the recordings. We discuss the problems faced by researchers and how these have been addressed, revealing how a conventional solution has emerged that facilitates a particular kind of ‘multi-modal’ analysis. We then suggest some limitations of this framing and describe a number of recent approaches to recording video data that seek to overcome these constraints. While providing opportunities for very distinctive kinds of analyses, adopting these solutions places very particular demands on how data are collected, how research activities are conventionally undertaken, and perhaps more importantly, the nature of the analysis that is made possible. Although seeming to be a practical and technical consideration about recording data, selecting a camera angle uncovers methodological concerns that reveal the distinctive demands that video places on researchers concerned with the detailed analysis of naturally occurring social interaction.
Article
In this article I consider the potential for combining multimodality and anthropologically informed sensory ethnographic methodologies. I focus on a comparison between anthropological and multimodality approaches to the senses, the relationships between images and words, and ethnography. In doing so I reveal some of the tensions and fundamental differences between these approaches before then considering if and/or how these might be reconciled.
Article
Recent books by Jon Prosser (Image-based Research 1998) and by Michael Emmison and Philip Smith (Researching the Visual 2000) recommend increased research attention to the visual dimensions of culture and social life, but their contrasting perspectives raise questions about how research of this sort can be pursued most productively: as a strand or dimension of sociological inquiry or through cross-disciplinary work in qualitative research or cultural studies? By attending to photographic and video tape recordings or by deliberately avoiding them in favor or other forms of evidence? As one answer to these questions, this essay outlines an approach to visual studies in which researchers neither resist nor romanticize the “image” and to which both disciplinary and interdisciplinary concerns have something to contribute.
Book
In this monograph, the author offers a new way of examining the much discussed notion of identity through the theoretical and methodological approach called multimodal interaction analysis. Moving beyond a traditional discourse analysis focus on spoken language, this book expands our understanding of identity construction by looking both at language and its intersection with such paralinguistic features as gesture, as well as how we use space in interaction. The author illustrates this new approach through an extended ethnographic study of two women living in Germany. Examples of their everyday interactions elucidate how multimodal interaction analysis can be used to extend our understanding of how identity is produced and negotiated in context from a more holistic point of view.
Book
Our perception of our everyday interactions is shaped by more than what is said. From coffee with friends to interviews, meetings with colleagues and conversations with strangers, we draw on both verbal and non-verbal behaviour to judge and consider our experiences. Analyzing Multimodal Interaction is a practical guide to understanding and investigating the multiple modes of communication, and provides an essential guide for those undertaking field work in a range of disciplines, including linguistics, sociology, education, anthropology and psychology. The book offers a clear methodology to help the reader carry out their own integrative analysis, equipping them with the tools they need to analyze a situation from different points of view. Drawing on research into conversational analysis and non-verbal behaviour such as body movement and gaze, it also considers the role of the material world in our interactions, exploring how we use space and objects - such as our furniture and clothes - to express ourselves. Considering a range of real examples, such as traffic police officers at work, doctor-patient meetings, teachers and students, and friends reading magazines together, the book offers lively demonstrations of multimodal discourse at work. Illustrated throughout and featuring a mini-glossary in each chapter, further reading, and advice on practical issues such as making transcriptions and video and audio recordings, this practical guide is an essential resource for anyone interested in the multiple modes of human interaction.
Researching the Visual Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Jana Holsanova. 2012. New methods for studying visual communication and multimodal inter-gration
  • Michael Emmison
  • Philip Smith
Michael Emmison and Philip Smith. 2000. Researching the Visual. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Jana Holsanova. 2012. New methods for studying visual communication and multimodal inter-gration. Visual Communication 11(3): 251–257.
Identity in (Inter)action: Introducing Multimodal (Inter)action Analysis Multimodality, multisensoriality and ethnographic knowing: social semiotics and the phenomenology of perception
  • Norris
  • Sigrid
Norris, Sigrid. 2011. Identity in (Inter)action: Introducing Multimodal (Inter)action Analysis. Berlin/New York: de Guyter Mouton. Pink, Sarah. 2011. Multimodality, multisensoriality and ethnographic knowing: social semiotics and the phenomenology of perception. Qualitative Research 11(3): 261–276.