Using video data in project management research

Publisher:
Australian Institute of Project Management
Publication Type:
Conference Proceeding
Citation:
Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM) National Conference 2013, 2013, pp. 1 - 10
Issue Date:
2013-01
Full metadata record
In project management research, on site engagement is acknowledged as being good practice for gaining primary data and understanding the context of the projects being studied. However, it is not possible for researchers to be on site for every project they intend to research because projects can be difficult to access, or may be secret during the execution phase, or simply may have been completed a long time ago. Reading the project documents will provide a substantial amount of information, but there is always more to any project than written data alone, as project practitioners are well aware. Advances in technology since the beginning of the 20 th century enable the filming of project works and perhaps the main benefit of that filming is to document the process for documentary production. Since the camera can capture a wealth of detail and rich complexity that it is impossible or very difficult to capture by other means, and since the eye and ear can acquire a great deal of information that it is practically impossible to write down simultaneously, can the use of such video data be beneficial in project management research? This paper reports the experience of the authors in using video data in such research. More than 250 hours of video data have been examined in researching British aviation projects during the period of the Second World War. The benefits of, and guidance for, using video data are presented, as well as cautions about what may affect the successful use of video data
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