Problems with my Pilot

I've been working on my pilot project for my masters research and have realized something.

Video taping students and then trying to figure out what they are doing at their work station is almost IMPOSSIBLE. Although I have repositioned my cameras to take 2 tables only for 20 minutes and then switch to the other 2 tables this has not helped the problem.

I have also discovered that when children are off screen I can't tell whether it is on-task or off. So it messes up my data.

New plan: I'm going to go back into the classroom and record the data first hand so that I don't have to rely on video cameras. This will alter my research a little because now I will have another teacher in the room and myself watching students. Will this make them act differently? Perhaps however, they will react in that way through 8 viewings so this should not effect my data in the end.

To recap, I am studying if students who choose their work space stay more on-task than students who are told where to sit during work time.

I am also NOW on ed leave! So this will allow me to work full time on my masters.