Measuring interaction quality in mathematics instruction: How differences in operationalizations matter methodologically

Quality of interaction can enhance or constrain students’ mathematical learning opportunities. However, quantitative video studies have measured the quality of interaction with very heterogeneous conceptualizations and operationalizations. This project sought to disentangle typical methodological choices to assess interaction quality in six quality dimensions, each of them in task-based, move-based, and practice-based operationalizations. The empirical part of the study compared different conceptualizations with their corresponding operationalizations and used them to code video data from middle school students (n = 210) organized into 49 small groups who worked on the same curriculum materials. The analysis revealed that different conceptualizations and operationalizations led to substantially different findings, so their distinction turned out to be of high methodological relevance. These results highlight the importance of making methodological choices explicit and call for a stronger academic discourse on how to conceptualize and operationalize interaction quality in video studies.