How can I analyze images, audio, video, and multiple source types?
Overview
Use visual content analysis to code visible features in images, drawings, scanned material, or video frames; use visual thematic analysis when interpreting broader meaning patterns. Audio and video can be transcribed for textual analysis while retaining timestamps or coded ranges that link findings back to the original media. A multisource or multimodal workflow can bring together an interview, drawing, observation, photograph, or recording for the same case and examine convergence, complementarity, discrepancy, or absence across sources.
What to do
- Use text coding when a source has reliable machine-readable text; use region or range coding for visual or time-based evidence.
- Code each source in a way that respects its modality before comparing them across a case.
- Use document metadata or consistent naming to identify sources that belong to the same participant, event, or case.
- Keep the original media available when timing, gesture, visual context, or voice quality matters to interpretation.