Co-constructing models as tools in vocational practice

In this article the iterative process of a design-based research project using video as one of the data sources will be reported. During the iterative design and implementation processes video recordings of teachers and students were used to provide guidance through the practical and conceptual changes. The video was an indispensable data source. Without it there would have been no possibility of ‘seeing’ how the curriculum project was enacted nor what the explanations for several results based on other data might be. We explain how our video data guided our academic analysis at three levels, the baseline level, the methodological level and the meta-level. With hindsight we are able to see that the extensive use of video data co-determined the course of the research trajectory in ways that would not have been possible with quantitative data alone. Through the use of video data we attempted to find an answer to questions of codified knowledge in knowledge-rich workplaces, simulated in vocational education. On the basis of our research experiences we conclude that video observations are indispensable if our aim is not only to improve theory and practice but also to reflect on the design of the method itself; especially if design research is regarded as open-ended, and the agency of participants is valued. * This chapter will be submitted as an article.