Opportunities and Limits of Online Video Studies

Researchers use video data obtained from services like YouTube to study human behaviour; in HCI, they gain insights about the use of technology “in the wild”, and help designers solve real-world problems. However, researchers wishing to conduct such studies will find little guidance in the literature to shape their own projects; methods vary, and cannot be applied universally. In this paper, we aim to help researchers decide whether an online video-based study is appropriate for their projects. Based on our own experience and surveying the literature from HCI and other fields, we discuss the benefits of studying user-uploaded videos, the proper methods to use, the inherent challenges of online video services, and the ethics of studying publicly-available video content.