Video methodologies in research: unlocking the complexities of occupation

Video methods are used by numerous academic disciplines researching human action. Occupational therapists and scientists have primarily employed video data to enumerate subcomponents of occupational behaviour, to conduct reliability tests, and to study clinical reasoning. There is a gap in the literature using video data to explore complex dimensions of typical occupational behaviour.

This paper aims to encourage the use of video methodology beyond its current state in research on occupation.

Drawing on recent theoretical developments in the literature and empirical illustrations from a video-based project with migrants, this paper demonstrates thepotential contributions of video data to understandings of identity, the physical environment, the stream of occupations, and collective occupations. The paper also discusses the unique advantages and richness of collecting video data in comparison to interviews and traditional observations. The challenges in employing video methodologies are discussed.

Video research offers unprecedented opportunities to study human occupation in incommensurable detail as it unfolds through sociocultural and physical environments.