  We present an original study of the dwarf starburst galaxy NGC 4214. We use
archival optical and UV images obtained with WFPC2 and STIS on-board the Hubble
Space Telescope. We explain the process followed to obtain high-quality
photometry and astrometry of the stellar and cluster populations of this
galaxy. We describe the procedure used to transform magnitudes and colours into
physical parameters using spectral energy distributions. We analyze several
aspects of the astrophysics of NGC 4214: we briefly describe the stellar
populations in its inner structure with emphasis in the determination of the
ratio of blue-to-red supergiants. We study the stellar extinction and we find
it consistent with previous studies of the nebular extinction. The extinction
associated to the stellar population is found to be rather low (E(B-V) < 0.1
mag). We make a complete research of the initial mass function (IMF) of the
stars with masses between 20 and 100 Mo using a photometric method. We find
that this dwarf galaxy has a steeper IMF than Salpeter. We analyze several
extended structures distributed throughout the central regions of NGC 4214. We
infer their properties, such as age, mass, and extinction. Some of the clusters
that we study are likely to disappear because of "infant mortality". We discuss
the interaction between massive stars and their environment. We argue that star
formation in NGC 4214 could take place in several stages.
