Art-based research

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Art-based research is a mode of formal qualitative inquiry that uses artistic processes in order to understand and articulate the subjectivity of human experience.[1][2][3]

The term was first coined by Elliot Eisner (1933 - 2014) who was a professor of Art and Education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and one of the United States' leading academic minds.[4][5] Eisner used the term 'art-based research' as the title of a conference presentation held at Stanford University in 1993.[6][7][8][9]

Subsequently, the concept of art-based research was defined by Shaun McNiff, professor of Creative Arts Therapies at Lesley College, 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.'[10] It was later additionally defined as 'research that uses the arts, in the broadest sense, to explore, understand, represent and even challenge human action and experience'.[11]

Many practitioners of art-based research trace the origins of their approach to the work of German arts theorist and psychologist Rudolf Arnheim,[12][13] and American philosopher Susanne Langer,[14][15] both of whom elucidated the use of artistic experimentation and production as a means by which to acquire and document knowledge about the art, the artist, and its audience, inspiring a range of academic programs that facilitated students in using the process of making art, including performance, painting, and music as the means by which to understand the nature of human experience, teaching, and learning.[16]

Arts-Based research is closely related to and is often paired with Action Research, Participatory Action Research and Community-Based Participatory Research methodologies.[17]  

  1. ^ Denzin, Norman K., and Yvonna S. Lincoln. Strategies of qualitative inquiry. Vol. 2. Sage, 2008.
  2. ^ Savin-Baden, Maggi, and Claire Howell-Major. Qualitative Research: The Essential Guide to Theory and Practice. Routledge (2013).
  3. ^ Baden, Maggi Savin, and Katherine Wimpenny. A practical guide to arts-related research. Springer, 2014.
  4. ^ Vanderbilt University News, 'Artist Educator Elliot Eisner to Speak at Vanderbilt'. Nashville, TN, USA. Vanderbilt University News. September 13, 2006.
  5. ^ Tampa Bay Times Bulletin Board, 'School Reform Lecture', St. Petersburg, FL, USA: St. Petersburg Times Newspaper. 21 January 1999. p43.
  6. ^ Wang, Qingchun, Sara Coemans, Richard Siegesmund, and Karin Hannes. "Arts-based methods in socially engaged research practice: A classification framework." Art/Research International 2, no. 2 (2017): 5-39.
  7. ^ Archibald, M., & Scott, S. (2019). Learning from Usability Testing of an Arts-Based Knowledge Translation Tool for Parents of a Child with Asthma. Nursing Open, 6(4).
  8. ^ Archibald, M., & Kitson. A. (2019). Using the Arts for Awareness, Communication and Knowledge Translation in Older Adulthood: A Scoping Review. Arts and Health: An International Journal for Research, Policy and Practice. 10.1080/17533015.2019.1608567
  9. ^ Archibald, M., Hartling, L., Caine, V., Ali, S., & Scott, S.D. (2018). Developing “My Asthma Diary”: A process exemplar of a patient-driven arts-based knowledge translation tool. BMC Pediatrics, 18(1).
  10. ^ McNiff, Shaun. Art-based research. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1998.
  11. ^ Baden, Maggi Savin, and Katherine Wimpenny. A practical guide to arts-related research. Springer, 2014.
  12. ^ Arnheim, Rudolf. Art and visual perception: A psychology of the creative eye. Univ of California Press, 1965.
  13. ^ Arnheim, Rudolf. Toward a psychology of art: Collected essays. Vol. 242. Univ of California Press, 1966.
  14. ^ Langer, Susanne K. Philosophy in a new key: A study in the symbolism of reason, rite, and art. Harvard University Press, 2009.
  15. ^ Langer, S. "Feeling and Form: A Theory of Art/Langer S." New York: Charles Scribner’s (1953).
  16. ^ Knowles, J. Gary, and Ardra L. Cole. Handbook of the arts in qualitative research: Perspectives, methodologies, examples, and issues. Sage, 2008.
  17. ^ Seppälä, Tiina; Sarantou, Melanie; Miettinen, Satu, eds. (2021). Arts-based methods for decolonising participatory research. New York: Routledge, Taylor Francis Group. ISBN 978-0-367-51327-6.