Reusing qualitative video data: matching reuse goals and criteria for selection

Abstract

Purpose This research investigated the reuse of Video Records of Practice (VRPs) - i.e. a type of qualitative data documenting teaching and learning in educational settings. It studied how reusers' purposes and experience-level with VRP reuse influence the importance of various VRP selection criteria and how these differ depending on whether the main goal for reuse was research or teaching. It also examined whether two different dimensions of qualitative research - reflexivity and context - were factors in VRP reuse. Design/methodology/approach The study reports on surveys of reusers at four VRP repositories. Questions were based on the literature and interviews with VRP reusers. The response rate was 20.6% (180 of 872 distributed surveys). This paper focused on 126 respondents who affirmatively responded they reused VRPs from a repository. Findings Researchers using VRPs were primarily interested in examining a broad range of processes in education and studying/improving ways to measure differences and growth in education. Reusers with teaching goals were commonly interested in VRPs to engage learners in showing examples/exemplars of - and reflecting on - teaching and learning. These differences between research and teaching led to varied expectations about VRPs, such as the amount of content needed and necessary contextual information to support reuse. Research limitations/implications While repositories focus on exposing content, understanding and communicating certain qualities of that content can help reusers identify VRPs and align goals with selection decisions. Originality/value Although qualitative data are increasingly reused, research has rarely focused on identifying how qualitative data reusers employ selection criteria. This study focused on VRPs as one type of qualitative data and identified the attributes of VRPs that reusers perceived to be important during selection. These will help VRP repositories determine which metadata and documentation meet reusers' goals.