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Key challenges of using video when investigating social practices in education: contextualization, magnification, and representation

ABSTRACT Audio- and video-recordings are increasingly popular data sources in contemporary qualitative research, making discussions about methodological implications of such recordings timelier than ever. This article goes beyond discussing practical issues and issues of ‘camera effect’ and reactivity to identify three major challenges of using video to ‘capture’ social practices: (1) getting close enough to details without losing context, (2) encountering the most severe consequence of ‘death by data’ – namely magnifying events that may not be significant to participants, and finally, (3) representing data so that an audience can actually assess whether inferences drawn from the data are plausible. These important issues directly impact the credibility of qualitative research relying on video. The article combines existing literature with contemporary examples from educational research to critically discuss these three key challenges and some possible ways of addressing them.