Video: modalities and methodologies

In this article, we set out to explore what we describe as the use of video in various modalities. For us, modality is a synthesizing construct that draws together and differentiates between the notion of ‘video’ both as a method and as a methodology. It encompasses the use of the term video as both product and process, and as a data collection tool and a cultural phenomenon. The idea of video modalities has been developed by us in our own research and writing in order to help researchers and research participants critically reflect on the potential of video as a resource for making meaning and generating knowledge. In this article, we argue that discussing modalities of video is helpful in exploring the nature of video-based data, the use of video within mixed methods research, and the links between such methods and a range of methodologies. In doing so, our intention is to consider two interlinked questions: firstly, the relationships between video and methodological assumptions and the potential of video to open up the way to mixed methods approaches, and secondly, the potential contribution of video to epistemological frameworks. Our overall aim in doing this is to help researchers think through how they might use and integrate video into their research designs.