What are users thinking in a virtual world lesson? Using stimulated recall interviews to report student cognition, and its triggers

Stimulated recall is an empirically rigorous introspection data collection tool that allows the interviewer to elicit, identify and explore participantsʹ thinking. In this study it was used to identify the types of thinking skills and strategies employed by first year university students engaged in a Chinese language and culture lesson in Second Life. A valuable affordance of this technique is the ability to account for stimuli from both the virtual and physical environments, thus strengthening the researchersʹ claims about the relationship between thinking and instructional design. This was accomplished through the use of screen capture software to record both the avatarʹs on-screen activity in Second Life as well as the face of the participant (via the web camera). This data was then used during the interview, within strict methodological protocols, to stimulate participantsʹ recall of their thinking at the time of carrying out the activity. The value of stimulated recall over other introspection tools, within the context of this study, is discussed. In addition, methodological concerns, especially those relating to reliability and validity of data, are outlined in this article; we also use data from the study to explicate strategies to minimize those concerns.