This paper suggests how educational researchers should approach interactive video in order to avoid errors found in traditional research on newly-developed instructional media. A distinction is made between research on interactive video and research with interactive video. Research on interactive video is divided into research which attempts to determine how to increase its effectiveness and research on how it relates to the broader instructional environment. The need for additional research on a number of issues which may be useful in increasing effectiveness is discussed, including the nature of interactivity, learner control, and the types of instructional functions facilitated by requiring an active learner response in an interactive video environment. Topics related to placing interactive video in a broader context that are discussed include whether the attributes generally associated with computers or video function differently in an interactive video environment and the methodologies used to examine interactive video. Attention is then devoted to how interactive video and its unique set of characteristics can be used to study other issues, such as concept acquisition and alternative branching strategies. (LMM)