Arts-based Methods in Socially Engaged Research Practice: A Classification Framework
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18432/R26G8PKeywords:
Arts-based research, Socially engaged research, Qualitative methodology, Literature review, ClassificationAbstract
Arts-based research has recently gained an increasing popularity within qualitative inquiry. It is applied in various disciplines, including health, psychology, education, and anthropology. Arts-based research uses artistic forms and expressions to explore, understand, represent, and even challenge human experiences. In this paper we aim to create order in the messy field of artistically inspired methods of socially engaged research. We review literature to establish study and distinguished three major categories for classifying arts-based research: research about art, art as research, and art in research. We further identify five main forms of arts-based research: visual art, sound art, literary art, performing art, and new media. Relevant examples of socially engaged research are provided to illustrate how different artistic methods are used within the forms identified. This classification framework provides artists and researchers a general introduction to arts-based research and helps them to better position themselves and their projects in a field in full development.
References
Avatar (n.d.) In Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/avatar
Ball, H. K. (2008). Quilts. In J. G. Knowles & A. L. Cole (Eds.), Handbook of the arts in qualitative research: Perspectives, methodologies, examples, and issues (pp. 363-368). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Banks, S. P. (2008). Writing as theory: In defense of fiction. In J. G. Knowles & A. L. Cole (Eds.), Handbook of the arts in qualitative research: Perspectives, methodologies, examples, and issues (pp. 155-164). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Barone, T., & Eisner, E. W. (2011). Arts based research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Bishop, E., & Willis, K. (2014) “Hope is that fiery feeling”: Using poetry as data to explore the meanings of hope for young people. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research,15(1). Retrieved from http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/2013
Boal, A. (1990). Theatre of the oppressed. New York, NY: Theatre Communications Group.
Boydell, K. M., Gladstone, B. M., Stasiulis, E., Volpe, T., Dhayanandhan, B., & Cole, A. L. (2015). The co-creation of a mural depicting experiences of psychosis. In D. Conrad & A. Sinner (Eds.), Creating together: Participatory, community-based, and collaborative arts practices and scholarship across Canada (pp. 39-50). Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
Boydell, K. M., Gladstone, B. M., Volpe, T., Allemang, B., & Stasiulis, E. (2012). The production and dissemination of knowledge: A scoping review of arts-based health research. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 13(1). Retrieved from http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1711
Brazg, T., Bekemeier, B., Spigner, C., & Huebner, C. E. (2010). Our community in
focus: The use of photovoice for youth-driven substance abuse assessment and health promotion. Health Promotion Practice, 12(4), 502-511. doi: 10.1177/1524839909358659
Burgoyne, S., Welch, S., Cockrell, K., Neville, H., Placier, P., Davidson, M., Share, T., & Fisher, B. (2005). Researching theater of the oppressed: A scholarship of teaching and learning project. Mountain Rise, 2(1). Retrieved from http://facctr.wcu.edu/mountainrise/archive/vol2no1/html/ researching_theatre.html
Butler-Kisber, L. (2010). Qualitative inquiry: Thematic, narrative and arts-informed perspectives. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Chávez, V., & Soep, E. (2005). Youth radio and the pedagogy of collegiality. Harvard Educational Review, 75(4), 409-434. Retrieved from http://culturemediaed.pressible.org/files/2011/09/soepchavez.pdf
Chilton, G., & Leavy, P. (2014). Arts-based research practice: Merging social research and the creative arts. In P. Leavy (Ed.), The Oxford handbook
of qualitative research (pp. 403-422). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Coemans, S., & Hannes, K. (2016a, January 20). Kunst IS wetenschap: Over de uitbreiding van onze wetenschappelijke toolbox [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://lirias.kuleuven.be/bitstream/123456789/525801/2/Kunst+IS+wetenschap_+Over+de+uitbreiding+van+onze+wetenschappelijke+toolbox.pdf
Coemans, S., & Hannes, K. (2016b, August). Applying a multi-sensory methods base in collaborative research practice: Solid 'Dare it' (y). Paper presented at the TISSA Phd & Plenum Conference, Ghent, Belgium. Abstract retrieved from https://lirias.kuleuven.be/handle/123456789/543674
Coemans, S. & Hannes, K. (2017). Researchers under the spell of the arts: Two decades of using arts-based methods in community-based inquiry. In press.
Coemans, S., Raymakers, A. L., Vandenabeele, J., & Hannes, K. (2017). Evaluating the extent to which social researchers apply feminist and empowerment frameworks in photovoice studies with female participants: A literature review. Qualitative Social Work: Research and Practice, 1-13. doi: 10.1177/1473325017699263
Coemans, S., Wang, Q., Leysen, J., & Hannes, K. (2015). The use of arts-based methods in community-based research with vulnerable populations: Protocol for a scoping review. International Journal of Educational Research, 71, 33-39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2015.02.008
Colantonio, A., Kontos, P. C., Gilbert, J. E., Rossiter, K., Gray, J., & Keightley, M. L. (2008). After the crash: Research-based theater for knowledge transfer. Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions, 28(3), 180-185. doi: 10.1002/chp.177
Conrad, D., & Kendal, W. (2009). Making space for youth: iHuman Youth Society & arts-based participatory research with street-involved youth in Canada. In D. Kapoor & S. Jordan (Eds.), Education, participatory action research and social change: International perspectives (pp. 251-264). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2008). Strategies of qualitative inquiry. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Eisner, E. W. (1981). On the difference between scientific and artistic approaches to qualitative research. Review of Research in Visual Arts Education, 7(1). Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/20715305.pdf
Eisner, E. W. (2006). Does arts-based research have a future? Inaugural lecture for the first European Conference on Arts-Based Research: Belfast, Northern Ireland, June 2005. Studies in Arts Education, 48(1), 9-18. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/25475802.pdf
El Demellawy, H., Zaman, B., & Hannes, K. (2017). An exploration of the potential of progressive dissemination formats of research findings. European Congress of Qualitative Inquiry Proceedings 2017, Leuven, Belgium, (pp. 208-216). Retrieved from https://kuleuvencongres.be/ECQI2018/ecqi-2017-proceedings.pdf
Fraser, K. D., & Al Sayah, F. (2011). Arts-based methods in health research: A systematic review of the literature. Arts & Health, 3(2), 110-145. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17533015.2011.561357
Frayling, C. (1993). Research in art and design. Royal College of Art Research Papers, 1(1). Retrieved from http://www.transart.org/wp-content/uploads/group-documents/79/1372332724-Frayling_Research-in-Art-and-Design.pdf
Froggett, L., Little, R., Roy, A., & Whitaker, L. (2011). New model visual arts organisations & social engagement. Preston, UK: Psychological Research Unit, Preston, and University of Central Lancashire. Retrieved from http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/3024/1/WzW-NMI_Report%5B1%5D.pdf
Gang, J. (2016, October). Jeanne Gang: Buildings that blend nature and city [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/jeanne_gang_buildings_that_blend_nature_and_city
Garoian, C. R. (1999). Performing pedagogy: Toward an art of politics. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Gergen, M. M., & Gergen, K. J. (2011). Performative social science and psychology. Historical Social Research/Historische Sozialforschung, 36(4), 291-299. Retrieved from http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1595/3106
Guillemin, M. (2004). Understanding illness: Using drawings as a research method. Qualitative health research, 14(2), 272-289. Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1049732303260445
Hannes, K., & Coemans, S. (2016). The (app)sense of numbers and narratives in social science research. In V. Achten, G. Bouckaert, & E. Schokkaert (Eds.), 'A truly golden handbook': The scholarly quest for Utopia (pp. 480-493). Leuven, BE: Leuven University Press.
Hannes, K., Lockwood, C., & Pearson, A. (2010). A comparative analysis of three online appraisal instruments’ ability to assess validity in qualitative research. Qualitative Health Research, 20(12), 1736-1743. doi: 10.1177/1049732310378656
Hannula, M., Suoranta, J., & Vandén, T. (2005). Artistic research: Theory, method and practices. Helsinki, FI: Academy of Fine Arts.
Hornsby-Minor, E. (2007). If I could hear my mother pray again: An ethnographic performance of black motherhood. Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies, 3(3). Retrieved from http://liminalities.net/3-3/pray.htm
Kasat, P. (2014). Tools for social transformation: Making the personal creative and political. Griffith Review, 44. Retrieved from http://www.canwa.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Tools-for-social-transformation-Griffith-Review-Cultural-Solutions-May-2014.pdf
Knowles, J. G., & Cole, A. L. (2008). Handbook of the arts in qualitative research: Perspectives, methodologies, examples, and issues. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Lafrenière, D., & Cox, S. M. (2013). ‘If you can call it a poem’: Toward a framework for the assessment of arts-based works. Qualitative Research, 13(3), 318-336. doi: 10.1177/1468794112446104
Lahman, M. K., Geist, M. R., Rodriguez, K. L., Graglia, P. E., Richard, V. M., &Schendel, R. K. (2010). Poking around poetically: Research, poetry, and trustworthiness. Qualitative Inquiry, 16(1), 39-48. doi: 10.1177/1077800409350061
Lally, V., & Sclater, M. (2013).The Inter-Life project: Researching the potential of art, design and virtual worlds as a vehicle for assisting young people with key life changes and transitions. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 41(3), 318-338. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03069885.2013.773582
Lawton, P. (2010). Hand-in hand, building community on common ground. Art Education, 63(6), 6-12. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00043125.2010.11519096?journalCode=uare20
Leavy, P. (2009). Method meets art: Arts-based research practice. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
Leavy, P. (Ed.). (2014). The Oxford handbook of qualitative research. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Leggo, C. (2008). Astonishing silence: Knowing in poetry. In J. G. Knowles & A. L. Cole (Eds.), Handbook of the arts in qualitative research: Perspectives, methodologies, examples, and issues (pp. 165-174). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
McKenzie, C. (2008). Radio in/for research: Creating knowledge waves. In J. G. Knowles & A. L. Cole (Eds.), Handbook of the arts in qualitative research: Perspectives, methodologies, examples, and issues (pp. 337-349). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Mumtaz, N. (2015). Participatory action-based design research: Designing digital
stories together with new-immigrant/refugee communities for health and well-
being. In D. Conrad & A. Sinner (Eds.), Creating together: Participatory,
community-based, and collaborative arts practices and scholarship across
Canada (pp. 51-68). Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
Na, K. A., Park, H. J., & Han, S. J. (2016). Designing a community-based dance
programme for North Korean female refugees in South Korea. Research
in Dance Education, 17(1), 3-13.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14647893.2016.1139076
Norris, J. (2011). Towards the use of the “Great Wheel” as a model in determining the quality and merit of arts-based projects (research and instruction). International Journal of Education & the Arts, 12(1.7), 1-24. Retrieved from http://www.ijea.org/v12si1/v12si1-7.pdf
Pelias, R. J. (2008). Performative inquiry: Embodiment and its challenges. In J. G. Knowles & A. L. Cole (Eds.), Handbook of the arts in qualitative research: Perspectives, methodologies, examples, and issues (pp. 185-193). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Pentassuglia, M. (2017). “The art(ist) is present”: Arts-based research perspective in educational research. Cogent Education, 4. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2017.1301011
Piirto, J. (2002). The question of quality and qualification: Writing inferior poems as qualitative research. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 15(4), 431-445. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09518390210145507
Richardson, L. (1993). Poetics, dramatics and transgressive validity: The case of the skipped line. The Sociological Quarterly, 34(4), 695-710. doi: 10.1111/j.1533-8525.1993.tb00113.x
Savin-Baden, M., & Major, C. H. (2010). New approaches to qualitative research: Wisdom and uncertainty. London, UK: Routledge.
Savin-Baden, M., & Major, C. H. (2013). Qualitative Research: The essential guide to theory and practice. London, UK: Routledge.
Savin-Baden, M., & Wimpenny, K. (2014). A practical guide to arts-related research. Rotterdam, NL: Sense Publishers.
Skinner, E., & Masuda, J. R. (2013). Right to a healthy city? Examining the relationship between urban space and health inequity by Aboriginal youth artist-activists in Winnipeg. Social Science & Medicine, 91, 210-218. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.02.020
Sloane, J. A., & Wallin, D. (2013). Theatre of the commons: A theatrical inquiry into the democratic engagement of former refugee families in Canadian public high school communities. Educational Research, 55(4), 454-472. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00131881.2013.844948
Studio Gang. (n.d.). Polis station. Retrieved file://localhost/from http/::studiogang.com:project:polis-station:pdf
Tanner, S. J. (2016). Accounting for whiteness through collaborative fiction. Research in Drama Education, 21(2),183-195. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13569783.2016.1155404
Toroyan, T., & Reddy, P. S. (2005). Participation of South African youth in the design and development of AIDS photocomics. International Quarterly of Community Health Education, 25(1-2), 149-63. https://doi.org/10.2190/FG42-PQ5G-5352-2238
Tucker-Raymond, E., Rosario-Ramos, E. M., & Rosario, M. L. (2011). Cultural persistence, political resistance, and hope in the community and school-based art of a Puerto Rican diaspora neighborhood. Equity & Excellence in Education, 44(2), 270-286. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2011.563678
Tudorache, A. L. (2013). Methods for social change: Image and forum theatre. Bucharest, RO: A.R.T. Fusion Association.
Vaughn, N., Jacoby, S., Williams, T., Guerra, T., Thomas, N., & Richmond, T. (2013). Digital animation as a method to disseminate research findings to the community using a community-based participatory approach. American Journal of Community Psychology, 51(1), 30-42. doi:10.1007/s10464-012-9498-6
Walsh, C. A., Rutherford, G., & Crough, M. (2013). Arts-based research: Creating social change for incarcerated women. Creative Approaches to Research, 6(1), 119-139.
Wang, C. C., & Burris, M. (1997). Photovoice: Concept, methodology, and use for participatory needs assessment. Health Education and Behavior, 24(3), 369-387. doi:10.1177/109019819702400309
Wang, C. C., Yi, W. K., Tao, Z. W., & Carovano, K. (1998). Photovoice as a participatory health promotion strategy. Health Promotion International, 13(1), 75-86. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/13.1.75
Wang, Q., & Hannes, K. (2014). Academic and socio-cultural adjustment among Asian international students in the Flemish community of Belgium: A photovoice project. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 39, 66-81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2013.09.013
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2017 Art/Research International: A Transdisciplinary Journal
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with Art/Research International agree to the following terms:
a. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication and the right to sublicense the Contribution, in the form in which it is published by the journal, to others under the terms and conditions of the of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) that allows others to download the work and share the work with others with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal, but they cannot change the work in any way or use any part of the work commercially.
b. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive public distribution and display of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
c. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
d. Authors wishing to include items (such as images or other media, or any creative works of others whether previously published or not) must contact the original copyright holder to obtain explicit permission to publish these items in Art/Research International. Writing permission should include: the title(s) of any copyrighted work, original place of publication if applicable, and an acknowledgement of having read Art/Research International's copyright notice. Authors are responsible for obtaining this permission and keeping it in their own records for later verification.
