Using video surveys to compare classrooms and teaching across cultures: Examples and lessons from the TIMSS video studies

The video survey is a promising new approach for studying classrooms and teaching across cultures. Drawing from, experience in working with two cross-cultural video surveys, the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and its follow-up study (TIMSS-R), this article presents some of the challenges of studying classrooms across cultures and some of the ways that the video survey can deal with these challenges. The article begins by identifying some of the issues in cross-cultural research and classroom surveys that led to the creation of the video survey. Examples from the TIMSS and the TIMSS-R video studies are then used to illustrate some benefits and limitations of video surveys and to share some of the lessons that were learned about studying classrooms across cultures.