Quantifying tics: Best practices and design considerations for video-based tic coding in research

Tic disorders (TD), including Tourette Syndrome, are characterized by involuntary, repetitive movements and/or vocalizations that can lead to persistent disability and impairment across the lifespan. Existing research demonstrates that video-based behavioral coding (VBBC) methods can be used to reliably quantify tics, enabling a more objective approach to tic measurement above and beyond standardly used TD questionnaires. VBBC is becoming more popular given the ease and ubiquity of obtaining patient videos. However, rigor and reproducibility of this work has been limited by undescribed and unstandardized approaches to using VBBC methods in TD research. The current paper describes “best practices” for VBBC in TD research, which have been tested and refined in our research over the past 15+ years, including considerations for data acquisition, coding implementation, interrater reliability demonstration, and methods reporting. We also address ethical considerations for researchers using this method.