Advantages and Disadvantages of Video Interviews for Research Purposes

Case studies are an investigative technique that businesses, brands, and researchers use to determine individual circumstances behind a variety of situations or scenarios. Case studies are frequently produced to showcase outcomes such as business achievements, medical advances, service outcomes, group successes, and various other events. Part of the case study involves the collection of data through research often involving expert testimony and interviews.

When it comes to conducting research for a case study or similar project, interviews and various other approaches to data collection are likely to be employed. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Video Interviews for Research Purposes can be varied just as much as the data being collected can be. However, of all data collection methods, video interviews are probably the most common method of information collection used by brands these days.

At Beverly Boy Productions we produce video case studies, including video interviews that engage experts and customers or clients for their testimony as part of the research and data collection process. After successfully producing many case studies, we’ve found several key Advantages and Disadvantages of Video Interviews for Research Purposes. This is what we’ve learned as well as what others have to say about the use of video interviews for the purpose of conducting research for case studies.

Advantages of Video Interviews for Research Purposes

There are various types of interviews that are commonly used as part of the case study research process, but video interviews tend to be the most advantageous. Phone interviews, face-to-face interviews that are not filmed, and online interviews via Skype or other platforms tend to have less advantage over a video because the data is recorded but not visibly the way a video records whatever the subject is saying.

Video interviews for research purposes have the advantage of:

Collecting behavioral details in regards to the interview subject. People can see how the subject acts while answering or responding to questions.

Collecting emotional details during the data collection. Because video is used, it’s easy to see if the subject was happy, sad, stressed, mad, or feeling some other way.

Attitudes are collected during a video interview which is something that is less likely to be included in other formats of research or data collection practices.

Observations provide unique insight into the subject, the circumstances under which the subject is answering interview questions, and the behaviors, emotions, and attitude of the subject.

While video interviews have all of these advantages for research and data collection, there’s also the fact that video interviews can be:

More accessible for a larger audience. Videos can be seen by a much larger audience than written text could be.

Video can be collected remotely if necessary whereas some other forms of research, such as a face-to-face collection, may not be something that can take place in a remote location.

Other tests, including memory tests, or behavior tests, can also be filmed for further advantage in collecting research data.

Clearly, the Advantages and Disadvantages of Video Interviews for Research Purposes are mostly relative to the use of video in terms of collecting case study data, but many of these same advantages will carry over in other forms of data collection, too.

Disadvantages of Video Interviews for Research Purposes

Certainly there are some downfalls that may come as a result of your decision to utilize video interviews for research in a case study. It’s possible that a visible collection of data could result in unconscious bias occurring as others see the behavior, attitude, or emotions connected to interview subject and potentially may judge based on that behavior or attitude rather than judging based on the research alone.

Video research will take a bit longer to analyze, too. When video data is collected, someone must physically watch all of the video in order to process the data that was collected as part of the case study. If you’re in a rush, or you’re researching a lot of information and you’re aiming for absolute accuracy, you might not want to spend so much time reviewing video files when written data could more easily be analyzed using a mix of AI techniques, computer processes, and of course manual review.

Due to the lengthy amount of time that it can take to review video interviews that were conducted for research purposes, it may be considered inefficient to choose manual review of video in order to analyze the data collected. Plus, a smaller sample size is going to be necessary in order for data to be manually reviewed.

Case study data collection methods can certainly vary and these Advantages and Disadvantages of Video Interviews for Research Purposes really depend on the amount of data to be collected and analyzed. At Beverly Boy Productions, we find video interviews for research purposes to be incredibly powerful means of collecting data under the right circumstances. 

To learn more about producing video case studies that include the use of video interviews for data collection and research purposes, give us a call!