Arts-based research

Draft

Introduction

Arts-based research integrates artistic activities within a research process. For some authors it means that the researcher uses his own artistic expression as means of enquiry, i.e. close to the sense of "artistic knowing". For others it also includes art-based action research, i.e. the use of art in action-oriented research that aims at "change through art".

Arts-based research is different from arts-based enquiry, i.e. the study of the art produced by subjects, and arts-based science communication, i.e. the use of arts to communicate scientific findings , arts-based education , etc.

Definitions

Art-based research can be defined as the systematic use of the artistic process, the actual making of artistic expressions in all of the different forms of the arts, as a primary way of understanding and examining experience by both researchers and the people that they involve in their studies. These inquiries are distinguished from research activities where the arts may play a significant role but are essentially used as data for investigations that take place within academic disciplines that utilize more traditional scientific, verbal, and mathematic descriptions and analyses of phenomena.

-- Shaun McNiff, 2008

The last decades have witnessed a renewed interest in the role of arts in science and the growing hybridization between the two. An illustration of this is the emergence of arts-based research practices. As Chilton (2013) remarks, there is a whole plethora of terms that refer to approaches that embrace the arts in social research. These approaches can be seen as a research continuum: from Eisner’s arts-based educational research (ABER) in the 1970s to arts-based research (ABR) adopted in the 1990s (Barone and Eisner 2012; McNiff 2008), which also represents an umbrella for other approaches like arts-informed research (Knowles and Cole 2008; CAIR 2000) and A/r/tography (Springgay et al. 2008).

-- Heras & Tàbara, 2014

Art-based research is defined as the use of personal expression in various art forms as a primary mode of enquiry. These studies may accompany or include the artistic expressions of others but their unique feature is the making of art by the researcher.

-- McNiff, S., 2013

Arts-based research is an approach to research that we define as a method designed to enlarge human understanding... the aim is to create an expressive form that will enable an individual to secure an empathetic participation in the lives of others and in the situations studied.

-- Barone and Eisner, 2012, 8-9

Arts-based action research is a blanket term that refers to the use of the arts, in various forms, as the basis for inquiry, intervention, knowledge production and/or information sharing. As a research method, arts-based approaches consist of the merging of the conventions of ‘traditional’ qualitative methodologies with those of the arts to allow for deeper research insight, interpretation, meaning making and creative expression, and alternative knowledges and ways of knowing....

-- Arts-Based Action Research, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Action Research

Forms of Art

Any art form can be used. Popular methods (to be confirmed) seem to be

• (hand) drawing
• Simple 2D or 3D sculptures (including collages)
• digital storytelling
• theatre

References and bibliography

Bibliography

• Bailenson, J. N., & Bell, A. C. (2006). Transformed social interaction: Exploring the digital plasticity of avatars. In R. Schroeder & A. S. Axelsson (Eds.), Avatars at work and play: Collaboration and interaction in shared virtual environments (pp. 1–16). Netherlands: Springer.

• Barone T, Eisner EW (eds) (2012) Arts based research. Sage Publications, Los Angeles.

• Barone, T. (2008). How arts-based research can change minds. In Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor & Richard Siegesmund (eds.), Arts-Based Research in Education: Foundations for Practice. Routledge (2008)

• Barone, T., & Eisner, E. (1997). Arts-based educational research. Complementary methods for research in education, 2, 75-116.

• Brown, A., & Sorensen, A. (2010). Integrating creative practice and research in the digital media arts. In H. Smith & R. T. Dean (Eds.), Practice-led research, research-led practice in the creative arts (pp. 153–165). Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press.

• Butler-Kisber, L., & Poldma, T. (2010). The power of visual approaches in qualitative inquiry: The use of collage making and concept mapping in experiential research. Journal of Research Practice, 6(2), Article M18. Retrieved [date of access], from http://jrp.icaap.org/index.php/jrp/article/view/197/196

• Cahnmann-Taylor, M., & Siegesmund, R. (Eds.). (2017). Arts-based research in education: Foundations for practice. Routledge.

• Chilton G (2013) Altered inquiry: discovering arts-based research through an altered book. Int J Qual Methods 2013:12

• Wilson, Ciann & Flicker, Sarah (2014) Arts-based action-research. In Coghlan, D. & Brydon-Miller, M. (2014). The SAGE encyclopedia of action research (Vols. 1-2). London, : SAGE Publications Ltd doi: 10.4135/9781446294406

• Dieleman H (2012) Transdisciplinary artful doing in spaces of experimentation and imagination. Transdiscipl J Eng Sci 3:44–57

• Eisner M (2008) Art and knowledge. In: Knowles JG, Cole AL (eds) Handbook of the arts in qualitative research: perspective, methodologies, example and issues. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks

• Eisner, E. (1997). The promise and perils of alternative forms of data representation. Educational Researcher, 26(6), 4–10.

• Finley S (2008) Arts-based research. In: Knowles JG, Cole AL (eds) Handbook of the arts in qualitative research: perspective, methodologies, example and issues. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, 71-81.

• Heras, M. & Tàbara, J.D. (2014) Let’s play transformations! Performative methods for sustainability, Sustainability Science (2014) 9: 379. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-014-0245-9

• Kagan S (2010) Cultures of sustainability and the aesthetics of the pattern that connects. Futures J Policy Plan Futures Stud 42(10):1094–1101

• Kagan S (2011) Aesthetics of sustainability: a transdisciplinary sensibility for transformative practices. Transdiscipl J Eng Sci 2:65–73

• Kagan S (2012) Toward global (environ)mental change transformative art and cultures of sustainability. Heinrich Böll Foundation, Berlin

• Katz-Buonincontro J., Foster A. (2012) Examining Students’ Cultural Identity and Player Styles Through Avatar Drawings in a Game-Based Classroom. In: Ifenthaler D., Eseryel D., Ge X. (eds) Assessment in Game-Based Learning. Springer, New York, NY

• Knowles J, Cole A (2008) Arts-informed research. In: Knowles JG, Cole AL (eds) Handbook of the arts in qualitative research: perspective, methodologies, example and issues. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks

• Leavy P (2009) Method meets art: arts-based research practice. The Guilford Press, New York.

• Levine, S. (2004). Arts-Based Research. Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism and Practice, 3(1).

• Macleod, K. (Ed.). (2013). Thinking through art: Reflections on art as research. Routledge.

• McNiff, S. (2004, Fall). Research in new keys: An introduction to the ideas and methods of arts-based research. Journal of Pedagogy Pluralism and Practice.

• McNiff, S. (1998). Art-based research. Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley.

• McNiff S (2008) Arts-based research. In: Knowles JG, Cole AL (eds) Handbook of the arts in qualitative research: perspective, methodologies, example and issues. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, pp 83–92

• McNiff, S. (2013) (ed). Art as Research. Intellect Ltd

• McNiff, S. (2013). Introduction: A critical focus on art-based research. Journal of Applied Arts & Health, 4(1), 5-12.

• McNiff, S. (2013). Special Issue: Opportunities and challenges in art-based research. Journal of Applied Arts & Health, 4(1), 5-124.

• Obe, S. M., & Malins, J. (2015). Special Issue: Practice-based research in art and design. International Journal of Education through Art, 11(3), 339-342.

• Schön D (1983) The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action. Basic Books, USA

• Springgay S, Irwin RL, Kind S (2008) A/r/tographers and living inquiry. In: Knowles JG, Cole AL (eds) Handbook of the arts in qualitative research: Perspective, methodologies, example and issues. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, pp 83–92

• Sullivan G (2010) Art practice as research: inquiry in visual arts. Sage, Los Angeles.