Method Meets Art, Second Edition: Arts-Based Research Practice

237 Pages·2015·3.947 MB·English

by  Patricia Leavy

Praise for Method Meets Art
“Leavy has another winner! A practical, engaging guide, Method Meets Art, Second Edition, makes a persuasive case for ABR as its own
developed paradigm with the potential to advance public scholarship. The second edition includes current examples, an important chapter on
evaluation, and new discussions of film, fiction-based research, playbuilding, and creative arts therapies.” —Carolyn Ellis, Distinguished
University Professor and Chair, Department of Communication, University of South Florida
“A leading-edge, articulate, comprehensive overview of ABR. The second edition expands into new terrain to make a robust case for ABR across
disciplines…. Leavy demonstrates that ABR methods can take us beyond the limits of quantitative conclusions and into the realm of implicit,
person-centered wisdom. This book will undoubtedly be required reading for researchers and students in psychology, social sciences, creative
arts therapies, and arts education.” —Cathy A. Malchiodi, Division of Expressive Therapies, Lesley University; Trauma-Informed Practices and
Expressive Arts Therapy Institute
“This is the perfect introductory text for graduate-level courses on ABR, and is also ideal for undergraduate surveys of multiple qualitative
methods. Key to the book’s usefulness are its broad definition of ABR and its inclusion of the multiple artistic genres that have been used as
modes of data collection, analysis, and representation in qualitative research.” —Susan Finley, Department of Teaching and Learning,
Washington State University
“Like height marks on a doorframe that record a child’s growth, Leavy’s second edition records a major growth spurt in ABR over the past
several years. Arts-based researchers and the broader qualitative research communities continue to be indebted to Leavy for her documentation,
celebration, and advocacy of multiple ways of knowing. This extensively updated edition is rich with exemplars and sophisticated discussions of
the epistemological and methodological issues that underpin this work. It is a standout book and a ‘must have.’ ” —Joe Norris, Department of
Dramatic Arts, Brock University
“The teaching features of this book are second to none…. I appreciate the way that Leavy weaves pedagogical practices into her text, allowing for
scaffolding of those new to ABR. This text serves as a bridge to the various genres, idiosyncrasies, practices, and possibilities of ABR.” —Jennifer
L. Milam, Department of Curricular and Instructional Studies, University of Akron
“Leavy shares wonderful, original examples of how method meets art to produce research reports that are as accurate as they are moving and as
rigorous as they are beautiful. The book challenges us as researchers to not so quickly select a comfortable way to create and share research, but
rather let the inquiry’s focus, the data’s form, the audience’s perspectives, and our inner muse guide us to consider new alternatives. Read this
book and be prepared to base your research in art like you never could have imagined before!” —Ronald J. Chenail, Graduate School of
Humanities and Social Sciences, Nova Southeastern University
“Leavy has succeeded in pushing the borders of our understanding of the importance of the arts in research and in writing. The new chapter on
evaluating ABR and the provocative discussion of the art–science divide make the book a ‘must read.’ I will certainly use this text in my
qualitative methods courses.” —Valerie J. Janesick, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, University of South Florida
“An excellent introductory text…. Leavy adeptly relates the most basic techniques in ABR…. In addition, she exceeds the introduction of
techniques by presenting excellent examples of ABR research by experienced ABR methodologists. These elucidate ABR methods by showing
students and beginning researchers what those methods ‘look like’ when done well.” —PsycCRITIQUES
“This book is a great foundation for conducting ABR projects as well as a primer for explaining how and why ABR methods complement
traditional methods…. Leavy is conscious that she is on the cutting edge of this dynamic methodology and provides thoughtful background and
bridging concepts/language. She helps those who use ABR practices succeed in their research and defend their methods to their institutions and
audience.” —Paulette Moore, Visual and Communication Arts Department, Eastern Mennonite University
“Leavy enables her readers to gain a sense of how a particular art form might suit their research needs and skills-set, while simultaneously
validating each methodology and providing guidance over how specific research practice might be emulated.” —Qualitative Research
“I love this book! It provides detailed information on each method, with an example at the end of the chapter; covers all the main ABR genres;
and draws exemplars from multiple disciplines in social science. Each chapter is independent from the others, so reading doesn’t need to be
linear. This is a great resource for professors who want to learn about ABR (and teach it to their students).” —Jeong-Hee Kim, Department of
Curriculum and Instruction, Kansas State University
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Also from Patricia Leavy
Handbook of Emergent Methods
Edited by Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber and Patricia Leavy
For more information, visit the author’s website:
www.patricialeavy.com
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METHOD
MEETS ART
Arts-Based Research Practice
SECOND EDITION
Patricia Leavy
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THE GUILFORD PRESS
New York London
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Epub Edition ISBN: 9781462520510; Kindle Edition ISBN: 9781462520527
© 2015 The Guilford Press
A Division of Guilford Publications, Inc.
370 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1200, New York, NY 10001
www.guilford.com
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.
Last digit is print number: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Leavy, Patricia, 1975–
Method meets art : arts-based research practice / Patricia Leavy.—Second edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4625-1332-1 (paperback)—ISBN 978-1-4625-1944-6 (hardcover)
1. Qualitative research—Methodology. 2. Art and society. 3. Art and science. I. Title.
H62.L395 2015
700.72—dc23
2014027323
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To C. Deborah Laughton,
for the support, advice, and friendship.
I’m forever grateful that you took a chance
on my work. Thank you!
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Preface
A
lthough I entered the sociology graduate program at Boston College intending to study substantive
“topics” related to my social justice interests, I soon became captivated by the research process itself. Little did
I realize at the time that deep engagement with methodological issues would become my path for pursuing my
sociological concerns. Through my coursework, mentorship, and early research experiences, I developed a
holistic approach to the research process that emphasizes the interconnections between epistemology, theory,
and methods. For me, this approach to social research is consistent with my long-term social justice
commitments.
As graduate school was nearing completion and I was entering the world of “publish or perish” and scant
funding opportunities, I soon realized that the disciplinary research demands experienced by those in many
academic disciplines called for a far more limited view of research than I’d hoped. For instance, research
published in top-tier sociology journals was largely quantitative and relied on the replication of research
procedures and the like. Published qualitative research often followed strict disciplinary standards regarding
methodological choices, at times seemingly judged against inappropriate positivist standards. Furthermore,
discussions of theory often appeared separate from discussions of method, failing to provide holistic accounts
of the research endeavor. Innovative qualitative methods, such as autoethnography, seemed to be relegated to
a lower or “experimental” status, thereby undercutting the effectiveness of the research. I was becoming
disenchanted. What’s worse, my work had officially started feeling like work. Joyless. I was not expressing what
I wanted to or reaching people in a meaningful way. Indeed, I became aware that the very journal articles we
all strove to publish were scarcely read. Furthermore, they would never reach anyone outside of the academy.
The work was inaccessible in every way, which was reinforced to me when I tried to share my writings with
relatives or friends who would say things like, “It looks impressive but there’s too much jargon, I just don’t get
it.” It became clear to me that I needed to find a different way to conduct and present research.
Fortunately, at that time I was working on a couple of coedited projects on “emergent methods,” a term for
innovative approaches to research methodology. As a result, I began to discover the world of arts-based
research (ABR). I slowly began adapting these approaches to my own projects. Soon a new world had opened
up.
THE TURN TO THE ARTS
Like many, I intuitively understood the power of the arts from personal experience, long before I learned
about the arts in any scholarly sense. As a child I would reread my favorite books until the pages were faded,
freely surrender to new worlds at the movies, go from laughter to tears between acts one and two at theater,
and marvel at the grace of dancers moving through space.
As an adult, my love of the arts only increased from playing music first thing in the morning to visiting
museums and seeing films. It wasn’t until I became a mother and a professor that I started to realize the many
ways arts could be harnessed to teach. For example, when my daughter, Madeline, was in elementary school
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and having trouble with geometry, I took her to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and we analyzed Cubist
paintings, looking for shapes. Her geometry improved. Art taught her much more than information, though; it
also taught her about connection, empathy, feeling, resonance, and self-awareness. One profound experience I
had observing this was when I took her at the age of 7 to her first concert. Let’s face it, there are very few
incredible first-time life experiences, and most of them don’t involve your mother. With that in mind, I
wanted to take Madeline to her first concert, to share that experience with her. I will never forget the look on
her face when the lights went out. She stood on her chair and instinctively flung her arms up and started
screaming with everyone else. I spent most of the concert watching her and I realized that what she was
experiencing was the connection she felt to everyone else there, a connection created through live music. She
was a part of something. It was visceral, embodied, and powerful.
These lessons were echoed in my teaching. In my Sociology of Gender course I lectured about patriarchy,
violence, and sexual assault and we read many articles on those topics. What really moved students, though,
was when I would show a video of Tori Amos singing “Me and a Gun,” a haunting song that chronicles the
singer’s own rape. In my seminar Love, Intimacy, and Human Sexuality, we covered many topics that were
challenging for students at the Catholic college, such as transgender identity. They were less compelled to
think and see differently by nonfiction essays than they were by watching the film Ma Vie en Rose, about a
child struggling with gender identity. The film prompted conversation, reflection, cultivation of empathy, and,
at times, increased self- and social awareness.
The arts can uniquely educate, inspire, illuminate, resist, heal, and persuade. It is for these reasons and
many others outlined in this book that innovative scholars across the disciplines have harnessed the power of
the arts in their social research. As a result, in recent decades a new paradigm has emerged: arts-based
research.
ABR practices have emerged out of the natural affinity between research practice and artistic practice, both
of which can be viewed as crafts. ABR practices are a set of methodological tools used by researchers across the
disciplines during all phases of social research, including data generation, analysis, interpretation, and
representation. These emerging tools adapt the tenets of the creative arts in order to address social research
questions in holistic and engaged ways in which theory and practice are intertwined. Arts-based practices draw
on literary writing, music, dance, performance, visual art, film, and other mediums. Representational forms
include but are not limited to short stories, novels, experimental writing forms, graphic novels, comics, poems,
parables, collages, paintings, drawings, sculpture, 3-D art, quilts and needlework, performance scripts,
theatrical performances, dances, films, and songs and musical scores.
I turned to ABR in my own work out of a desire to do work that was meaningful to me and had the
potential to reach others. I saw ABR as a way of moving beyond the prohibitive jargon and limiting structures
that characterize much traditional research practice. But the arts can do so much more—they can connect us
with those who are similar and dissimilar, open up new ways of seeing and experiencing, and illuminate that
which otherwise remains in darkness.
WHY THIS BOOK IS NEEDED
I wrote this book as an in-depth introduction to ABR. The book reviews all of the major genres of ABR,
including narrative inquiry, fiction-based research, poetic inquiry, music, dance and movement, theatre,
drama, film, and visual art. I aim to synthesize, chronicle, and document the work of arts-based researchers
and provide some methodological instruction for those interested in this emerging paradigm. Because of my
experiences with students and researchers at home and on the road since writing the first edition of Method
Meets Art, I also hope to encourage and inspire others to try the approaches outlined in this book and to create
new ones. Regardless of your disciplinary background and whether you have artistic training, I hope to show
you that you can begin from where you are.
ORGANIZATION OF THIS BOOK
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