Handbook of Arts-based Research

Bringing together interdisciplinary leaders in methodology and arts-based research (ABR), this comprehensive handbook explores the synergies between artistic and research practices and addresses issues in designing, implementing, evaluating, and publishing ABR studies. Coverage includes the full range of ABR genres, including those based in literature (such as narrative and poetic inquiry); performance (music, dance, playbuilding); visual arts (drawing and painting, collage, installation art, comics); and audiovisual and multimethod approaches. Each genre is described in detail and brought to life with robust research examples. Team approaches, ethics, and public scholarship are discussed, as are innovative ways that ABR is used within creative arts therapies, psychology, education, sociology, health sciences, business, and other disciplines. The companion website includes selected figures from the book in full color, additional online-only figures, and links to online videos of performance pieces.

See also Dr. Leavy's authored book, Method Meets Art, Third Edition, an ideal course text that provides an accessible introduction to ABR.

Patricia Leavy, PhD, is an independent sociologist and former Chair of Sociology and Criminology and Founding Director of Gender Studies at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts. She is the author, coauthor, or editor of over 25 books, and the creator and editor of seven book series. Known for her commitment to public scholarship, she is frequently contacted by the U.S. national news media and has regular blogs for The Huffington Post,The Creativity Post, and We Are the Real Deal. She is also co-founder and co-editor-in-chief of the journal Art/Research International. Dr. Leavy has received numerous awards for her work in the field of research methods, including the Distinguished Service Outside the Profession Award from the National Art Education Association, the New England Sociologist of the Year Award from the New England Sociological Association, the Special Achievement Award from the American Creativity Association, the Egon Guba Memorial Keynote Lecture Award from the American Educational Research Association Qualitative Special Interest Group, and the Special Career Award from the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry. In 2016, Mogul, a global women’s empowerment platform, named her an “Influencer.” The School of Fine and Performing Arts at the State University of New York at New Paltz has established the Patricia Leavy Award for Art and Social Justice in her honor. Dr. Leavy delivers invited lectures and keynote addresses at universities and conferences. Her website is www.patricialeavy.com.

I. The Field
1. Introduction to Arts-Based Research, Patricia Leavy
2. Philosophical and Practical Foundations of Artistic Inquiry: Creating Paradigms, Methods, and Presentations Based in Art, Shaun McNiff
3. A/r/tography as Living Inquiry, Rita Irwin, Natalie LeBlanc, Jee Yeon Ryu, & George Belliveau
4. The Performative Movement in Social Science, Kenneth J. Gergen & Mary M. Gergen
5. Creative Arts Therapies and Arts-Based Research, Cathy A. Malchiodi
6. Creativity and Imagination: Research as World Making!, Celiane Camargo-Borges
7. Arts-Based Research Traditions and Orientations in Europe: Perspectives from Finland and Spain, Anniina Suominen, Mira Kallio-Tabin, & Fernando Hernández-Hernández
II. Literary Genres
8. Narrative Inquiry, Mark Freeman
9. The Art of Autoethnography, Tony E. Adams & Stacy Holman Jones
10. Long Story Short: Encounters with Creative Nonfiction as Methodological Provocation, Anita Sinner, Erika Hasebe-Ludt, & Carl Leggo
11. Fiction-Based Research, Patricia Leavy
12. Poetic Inquiry: Poetry as/in/for Social Research, Sandra L. Faulkner
III. Performance Genres
13. A/r/tographic Inquiry in a New Totality: The Rationality of Music and Poetry, Peter Gouzouasis
14. Living, Moving, and Dancing: Embodied Ways of Inquiry, Celeste Snowber
15. Ethnodrama and Ethnotheatre, Joe Salvatore
16. Reflections on the Techniques and Tones of Playbuilding by a Director/Actor/Researcher/Teacher, Joe Norris
IV. Visual Arts
17. Arts-Based Visual Research, Gunilla Holm, Fritjof Sahlström, & Harriet Zilliacus
18. Drawing and Painting Research, Barbara J. Fish
19. Collage as Arts-Based Research, Victoria Scotti & Gioia Chilton
20. Installation Art: The Voyage Never Ends, Jennifer L. Lapum
21. How to Draw Comics the Scholarly Way: Creating Comics-Based Research in the Academy, Paul Kuttner, Nick Sousanis, & Marcus B. Weaver-Hightower
V. Audiovisual Arts
22. Film as Research/Research as Film, Trevor Hearing & Kip Jones
23. Ethnocinema and Video-Based Research, Anne Harris
VI. Mixed Method and Team Approaches
24. Sea Monsters Conquer the Beaches: Community Art as an Educational Resource—a Marine Debris Project, Karin Stoll, Wenche Sørmo, & Mette Gårdvik
25. Multimethod Arts-Based Research, Susan Finley
VII. Arts-Based Research within Disciplines or Area Studies
26. Arts-Based Research in Education, James Haywood Rolling, Jr.
27. An Overview of Arts-Based Research in Sociology, Anthropology, and Psychology, Jessica Smartt Gullion & Lisa Schäfer
28. Deepening the Mystery of Arts-Based Research in the Health Sciences, Jennifer L. Lapum
29. Arts-Based Research in the Natural Sciences, Rebecca Kamen
30. Learning from Aesthetics: Unleashing Untapped Potential in Business, Keiko Krahnke & Donald Gudmundson
VIII. Additional Considerations
31. Criteria for Evaluating Arts-Based Research, Patricia Leavy
32. Translation in Arts-Based Research, Nancy Gerber & Katherine Myers-Coffman
33. Arts-Based Writing: The Performance of Our Lives, Candace Jesse Stout & Vittoria S. Daiello
34. Art, Agency, and Ethics in Research: How the New Materialisms Will Require and Transform Arts-Based Research, Jerry Rosiek
35. Aesthetic-Based Research as Pedagogy: The Interplay of Knowing and Unknowing toward Expanded Seeing, Liora Bresler
36. The Pragmatics of Publishing the Experimental Text, Norman K. Denzin
37. Going Public: The Reach and Impact of Ethnographic Research, Phillip Vannini & Sarah Abbott
Conclusion: On Realizing the Promise of Arts-Based Research, Patricia Leavy