Using recorded visual data: Doing Online Interviews
- Social Science informational
- 63(2), Jun, 2024: p.193-212
This article revisits Thomas Scheff’s 1980s proposition advocating for the use of video recordings in research interviews, a concept that initially saw limited uptake among scholars. It explores how contemporary communication platforms like Zoom and Skype now offer practical means to implement Scheff’s vision. The author discusses the added value of visual data—such as nonverbal cues and contextual richness—beyond audio recordings, and examines historical barriers to adoption, including technological limitations and disciplinary norms. The article argues that modern tools can enhance the methodological rigor and depth of qualitative research by enabling more comprehensive data capture in interview-based studies. .Using as a starting point an idea expressed by Thomas Scheff in the 1980s about the benefit of having video recordings of interviews that have been done, I discuss in this article how online research interviews via communication platforms such as Zoom or Skype can strengthen research studies. The specific benefits of having a visual recording of an interview in addition to an audio recording are discussed and consideration is also given to why Scheff’s proposal did not receive greater acceptance in practice among the community of researchers when it was first proposed. The obstacles that might have impeded the application of Scheff’s proposal by researchers over the years are outlined and suggestions are made as to why modern communication platforms such as Zoom and Skype might now enable Scheff’s proposal to be implemented in research studies that utilize interviews as a method of inquiry.- Reproduced
Online Interviews, Visual Data, Video Recording, Thomas Scheff, Research Methodology, Zoom, Skype, Qualitative Research, Interview Methods, Technological Adoption, Research Practice, Communication Platforms