Reliable and Valid Coding of Thin Slices of Video Footage: Applicability to the Assessment of Mother-Child Interactions

Abstract

When using behavioral-observation methods for coding video footage, it is unknown how much time of an interaction needs to be coded to gain results that are representative for the behavior of interest. The current study examined this problem using the INTAKT, a standardized observational measure for assessing the quality of mother-child interactions. Results from coding only 10 min of each video (i.e., thin slices) were compared with results from coding the remaining parts (averaging about 40 min) of the interaction. Inter-rater agreement for the short versions taken from the beginning or the middle, but not the end of the interactions indicated satisfactory observer accuracy. Coding results did not differ between short and long video sequences, when sequences were taken from the middle of the interactions. Importantly, characteristic differences between different interactive situations were equally well represented in the short and long video sequences. Therefore, our results show that coding only 10 min of an interaction is as reliable and valid as coding full-length videos, if those short sequences are taken from the middle of an interaction. Our findings support the idea that for every method, it is necessary to individually determine the window duration that is long enough to gain results that are reliable and valid.

Capturing Behavior in Small Doses: A Review of Comparative Research in Evaluating Thin Slices for Behavioral Measurement

“…In a similar study, acceptable levels of slice-whole validity was found for 5-min, and especially 10-min, slices extracted from motivational clinical interviews (a type of trained counseling style) in five of seven measured constructs (Klonek et al, 2015 ). And, importantly, the authors also investigated the location of extracted slices and found that 5-min slices extracted from after the first 5-min of the interaction had the strongest validity, supporting previous recommendations to avoid using slices from the very beginning of interactions (Murphy et al, 2015 ; Hirschmann et al, 2018 ).…”

“…The thin-slice measurement technique itself is applicable to any behavioral domain, potentially even for behavioral measurement of non-human populations (Jamieson et al, 2017 ). Perhaps an expanded view of what constitutes a “thin slice” (beyond 5 min) is warranted given research on longer slices (e.g., 10 min) from lengthier interactions (e.g., >40 min) that shows similarities to findings examining shorter slices from briefer interactions (e.g., 30 s from 5 min) (Caperton et al, 2018 ; Hirschmann et al, 2018 ). At a conceptual level, there is evidence that thin slices reliably and validly measure behavior across various domains, including zero-acquaintanceship interactions and clinical settings.…”

“…The authors found using ~8 min reliably captured the whole session. In another study, 10-min slices extracted from 40+ min mother-child interactions showed strong evidence of slice-whole validity in measuring maternal sensitivity and maternal feedback (Hirschmann et al, 2018 ). Such findings provide further support to the notion that smaller excerpts from longer behavioral streams can adequately represent some behaviors across an interaction.…”

Maternal separation in rats induces neurobiological and behavioral changes on the maternal side

“…For maternal care, a second independent rater reexamined all video material. Intraclass correlation is an established statistical method to assess interrater differences of video material in subjective mother-infant relationships 60 . Only parameters showing an excellent inter-rater agreement 61 with r = > 0.75 were used for further analysis.…”

Predictive Validity of Thin-Slice Nonverbal Behavior from Social Interactions

“…Therefore, the present within-studies analysis of the impact of slice length on predictive validity was undertaken. Researchers often have little guidance on which or how much behavior to select (e.g., Caperton, Atkins, & Imel, 2018; Hirschmann, Kastner-Koller, Deimann, Schmelzer, & Pietschnig, 2018; Lausberg & Sloetjes, 2016; Murphy et al, 2015). Previously, we demonstrated that thin slices of specific NVBs (most notably, interpersonal gazing) can reliably represent and predict longer behavioral streams (Murphy, 2005; Murphy et al, 2015).…”