Stimulated recall: a report on its use in naturalistic research

Abstract

Stimulated recall (SR) is a family of introspective research procedures through which cognitive processes can be investigated by inviting subjects to recall, when prompted by a video sequence, their concurrent thinking during that event. Variations of the generic approach are widely used and many of the studies treat SR as non‐problematic. The article reviews the strengths and weaknesses of SR and exemplifies its use in a study of non‐deliberative decision‐making by sports coaches. The study reaffirms the potential limitations of subjects reordering their accounts in response to activating deeper memory structures and in order to maintain biases of control and a priori theory affirmation. Nevertheless, the procedure successfully elicited expert accounts of decisions taken and maintained the benefits of the naturalistic context. The article concludes that SR is a valuable tool for investigating cognitive processes, although care has to be taken with research designs. The value is enhanced when there is immediacy of recall, consonance between questions and cognitive organisation, and indirect means of introspection in complex interactive contexts, such as the classroom. It has considerable potential in both research and as the basis of training programmes.

Emotional climate of a pre-service science teacher education class in Bhutan

“…One stimulated recall interview was conducted with the teacher participant (i.e., Pelmo) using video recordings (Gass 2001) and observations from a researcher diary to stimulate recall of events after a lesson (Lyle 2003). Stimulated recall allowed the teacher participant to explain her decision making at certain moments during the lesson (Sime 2006).…”

Réponses et cadres conceptuels des cliniciens enseignants lors de discussions de cas avec des internes en psychiatrie

“…Lors de l'entretien, l'interviewer notait les réponses du participant. Une fois les réponses complétées pour chacune des vignettes, l'interviewer revenait sur les éléments essentiels des réponses du participant à chacune des vignettes en utilisant la technique du rappel stimulé [28] (stimulated recall). Il devait résumer les principales réponses du superviseur puis lui demander : « Pouvezvous m'expliquer le rationnel de vos réponses, les bases ou les fondements sur lesquels elles reposent ?…”

Stimulated recall interviews for describing pragmatic epistemology

“…This direct result is essential to the bolstering of SRI as a contextually valid methodology. To take full advantage of improved recall with SRI, it is important that the interview take place as soon as possible after the original experience [9,41]. Second, even with the direct access of first-person audiovisual recordings or physiological recordings, the Julia: Um, at that point I still wasn't very good with forces, so I was just trying to like, think of everything.…”

“…The fundamental issue is the problem of verbalizing tacit knowledge or automatic mental processes [8,9,37]. When a researcher asks a participant to explain a decision or thought process that they engage in without explicit thinking, they may generate an explanation on the spot.…”

“…This might seem impossible in practice; how can students engage in authentic learning and reflect deeply on that learning simultaneously without changing what we hope to measure? In this paper, we argue that we can move closer to accessing this rich, privileged data using a new methodology based on stimulated recall interviews (SRI) [8,9].…”