Synopses & Reviews
Review
"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. This book is useful for all qualitative researchers who want to step outside a traditional mode, as well as for any graduate or advanced undergraduate class exploring ways to blend qualitative methods with narrative, music, dance, poetry, drama, fiction, film, visual art, and other creative expressions."--Carolyn Ellis, PhD, Distinguished University Professor and Chair, Department of Communication, University of South Florida
"For Leavy, inquiry and performance are not the sole possessions of either science or art, but rather the children of technique, vision, and imagination. This book gently guides us from more familiar means of narrative and poetic expression to more adventurous and experimental modes of music, dance, and visual arts. Along the way, 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, PhD, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nova Southeastern University
"This evocative second edition is a gem for all who want to know more about ABR and the power and potential of the arts in defining our world. 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, PhD, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, University of South Florida
"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, PhD, Department of Dramatic Arts, Brock University, Canada
"Well written, engaging, and thoughtful. The teaching features of this book are second to none. As a qualitative researcher, but not an arts-based researcher, 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. I highly recommend this book to students of research methods, professors of educational research, and artists who wish to engage in educational research and pedagogy."--Jennifer L. Milam, PhD, Department of Curricular and Instructional Studies, University of Akron
"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 (and teach) ABR to their students."--Jeong-Hee Kim, PhD, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Kansas State University
"A leading-edge, articulate, comprehensive overview of ABR. The second edition expands into new terrain to make a robust case for ABR across disciplines. Patricia Leavy has once again moved ABR forward, showing how these methods can illuminate and clarify the human experience by bridging the arts and science divide. She 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, PhD, ATR-BC, LPAT, LPCC, REAT, Division of Expressive Therapies, Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Trauma-Informed Practices and Expressive Arts Therapy Institute, Louisville, Kentucky
"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, PhD, Department of Teaching and Learning, Washington State University
"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 introduces us to the field while walking us through issues and topics overlooked by traditional research engagements. 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, MA, Visual and Communication Arts Department, Eastern Mennonite University
Review
"I found the book interesting and one I believe will be useful for those wanting to embark on using a different approach to research....For those practicing counseling and psychotherapy, whether engaged in therapy and/or research and not familiar with using alternative methods of enabling people to capture experience I believe this book could offer fresh insights to support and further their endeavors."--Counselling and Psychotherapy Research (on the first edition)
Review
“In reading Leavy's book I can now see that all forms of research can inform, perform, reform, and transform what we think we know about the world around as well as ourselves as researchers and readers."--Weekly Qualitative Report (on the first edition)
Review
"A breath of fresh air....The contribution of this book to the field of research methods is invaluable....Leavy successfully establishes the legitimacy of arts-based research in social science research and succinctly explains how pivotal arts-based research is to the future of academic research."--International Journal of Education and the Arts (on the first edition)
Review
"Her book is equally relevant to experienced researchers looking to synthesize their artistic and research interests, and students seeking to develop an understanding of innovative research practice….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."/m-/Qualitative Research (on the first edition)
Review
"An excellent introductory text for arts-based research (ABR). After nearly 90 years of debate about ABR and 35 years of controversy about its cousin, arts-based educational research (ABER), it is time for the arts as research to reside in the research methods classroom and in research proper....Leavy adeptly relates the most basic techniques in ABR—giving them away to students and researchers alike. 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....Leavy's book is generally superb....I greatly appreciate Leavy's adept handling of this introduction to ABR, showing that it is legitimate, useful, and authentic among research methodologies. I have taught research methods in behavioral science for over 15 years and will use Leavy's book alongside a traditional research methods text, next time around. It is an excellent resource for students, for beginning researchers, and for academicians in the arts, literature, and social and behavioral sciences."--PsycCRITIQUES
Review
"This excellent, comprehensive work will be wonderful for classes and is also a good resource for researchers who want to explore different artistic approaches and their relationship to qualitative research. I plan to use it for both of these purposes. I highly recommend this book."--Carolyn S. Ellis, PhD, Department of Communication, University of South Florida
"The topic of this book is timely. Arts-based qualitative methods have grown and evolved rapidly over the last decade, and this book gives a very good overview of the most popular approaches. Most arts-based researchers have expertise in only one area and tend to write in that domain. An overview such as this one, with the added examples at the end of each chapter, is a useful contribution to the field."--Lynn Butler-Kisber, EdD, Director, Centre for Educational Leadership, McGill University, Canada"Leavy effectively lays out the range of practices and potentialities for social scientists who are interested in adding arts-based approaches to their qualitative research practices. The book provides valuable jumping-off points for using innovative methods in the domains of narrative, poetry, music, performance, dance and movement, and visual arts. Instructors of qualitative methods courses across the social sciences would do well to add this resource to their libraries and course readings as a way of introducing senior undergraduate or entry-level graduate students to the invigorating possibilities made available when 'method meets art.' I would recommend the text for survey courses in qualitative methods and specialized courses in alternative or specifically arts-based approaches to research."--Monica Prendergast, PhD, Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences, Division of Creative Arts and Learning, Lesley University
"This book seamlessly addresses fundamental questions about arts-based methods. It explores what arts-based methods are; their epistemological and theoretical foundations; the types of research questions for which they are suitable; how they are used to collect, analyze, interpret, and represent qualitative data; and how they can be evaluated. Leavy's engaging prose and examples convey the utility and beauty of arts-based methodologies."--Carol A. Bailey, PhD, Department of Sociology, Virginia Tech
"Leavy's wonderful book provides a substantive and outstanding introduction to arts-based approaches in qualitative inquiry. Chapters on each of the major art forms include an elegant overview of the modality; key text, journal, and online references for additional information; and representative contributions by some of the leading writers in qualitative research. Method Meets Art makes a significant and, most important, pragmatic contribution to the emerging literature in arts-based inquiry. This volume is not just for artists: Leavy provides all social researchers and students an excellent resource for exploring the aesthetic paradigm and an evocative genre of qualitative research."--Johnny Saldaña, MFA, School of Theatre and Film, Arizona State University
Review
"Her book is equally relevant to experienced researchers looking to synthesize their artistic and research interests, and students seeking to develop an understanding of innovative research practice. Of particular help for students is Leavy's succinct account of the positivist and qualitative research paradigms, which she uses to contextualize arts-based research, and the 'Checklist of Considerations' and 'Discussion Questions and Activities' that feature in each chapter which ensure that the material, while academically challenging, is accessible to inexperienced researchers. Students and researchers alike will no doubt benefit from the extensive lists of suggested books, websites, and journals that accompany each chapter, and by creating individual chapters for narrative analysis, poetry, music, performance, dance and movement, and visual art, and by including within each chapter an exemplar of relevant published research, 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
Review
"I found the book interesting and one I believe will be useful for those wanting to embark on using a different approach to research....The 'discussion questions and activities' included in each of the chapters will promote thought and help students clarify their hopes and expectations of their chosen research method. Likewise the 'suggested annotated reading' and 'web sites and journals' at the end of each chapter signpost the student to where they might further explore their research options....For those practising counselling and psychotherapy, whether engaged in therapy and/or research and not familiar with using alternative methods of enabling people to capture experience I believe this book could offer fresh insights to support and further their endeavours."--Counselling and Psychotherapy Research
Review
"A breath of fresh air....The contribution of this book to the field of research method is invaluable not only because it is an oppositional effort to resist such a tendency of 'Déjà vu all over again,' but because there have not been any introductory books on arts-based research that we could recommend to graduate students who are interested in arts-based research....Leavy successfully establishes the legitimacy of arts-based research in social science research and succinctly explains how pivotal arts-based research is to the future of academic research. Leavy invites the reader to imagine a world of arts-based research alongside her, keeping the tone of a novel narrator rather than that of an epic narrator, encouraging the reader to an open dialogue rather than being conclusive and closed. In order to serve as an introductory book, Leavy offers readers reader-friendly, step-by-step description of six different genres of arts-based research: narrative inquiry, poetry, music, performance, dance, and visual art."--International Journal of Education and the Arts
Review
"Maybe [the] strange divide between art and science in research and especially qualitative research will begin to erode away as more readers find Patricia Leavy's new 2009 tome, Method Meets Art: Arts-Based Research Practice, and begin to realize that researchers conducting narrative, poetic, musical, performative, dance, and visual forms of inquiry employ rigorous methods of data collection, analysis, interpretation, and representation too. Consumers of Leavy's book should also find a comfortable introduction to these arts-based approaches and hopefully an invitation to try some of these methodological modes in research of their own. In her well-written and engaging work, Leavy carefully introduces the world of arts-based research by walking us through the paradigmatic contexts that have helped to shape this approach to inquiry as well as to establish the conflicting perspectives that hinder many to see these methods as being research at all. She also recounts the struggles with monolithic standards of quality in qualitative research and calls for a dialogue to continue regarding the aesthetics and pragmatics of research. By engaging in such conversation Leavy suggests we all could benefit from challenging our own comfort zones and begin to see that we can all learn from our colleagues regardless of the method being utilized....In reading Leavy's book I can now see that all forms of research can inform, perform, reform, and transform what we think we know about the world around as well as ourselves as researchers and readers."--Weekly Qualitative Report
Synopsis
This book has been replaced by Method Meets Art, Third Edition, ISBN 978-1-4625-3897-3.
Synopsis
A comprehensive, highly accessible introduction to arts-based research (ABR), this widely used text provides a practical guide for researchers who want to uncover information that traditional methods cannot capture. Patricia Leavy addresses all eight major ABR genres--narrative inquiry, fiction-based research, poetry, music, dance, theatre, film, and visual art. Following a consistent format, chapters review how each genre developed, explore its methodological variations and the kind of research questions it can address, and describe sample studies. An exemplary research article or online video link demonstrates each set of techniques in practice.
New to This Edition:
*Covers two additional ABR genres: fiction-based research and film.
*Chapter on the criteria for evaluating ABR studies.
*Most end-of-chapter exemplars are new; plus links to online exemplars added for ABR performance studies.
*Chapters restructured to follow a consistent format.
*Implications for creative arts therapies are addressed throughout.
*Increased attention to public scholarship and audience issues.
*Expanded discussions of ABR as a paradigm, playbuilding, and technology.
Pedagogical Features:
*Checklists of issues to consider when deciding how to use a particular method.
*Discussion questions and activities that can be worked on in class or assigned.
*Annotated lists of suggested readings and websites, including links to online performance pieces.
*Instructive research examples from multiple disciplines.
*Flexibly organized so that chapters can be read independently or in sequence.
Synopsis
This book presents the first comprehensive introduction to arts-based research (ABR) practices, which scholars in multiple disciplines are fruitfully using to reveal information and represent experiences that traditional methods cannot capture. Each of the six major ABR genres--narrative inquiry, poetry, music, performance, dance, and visual art--is covered in chapters that introduce key concepts and tools and present an exemplary research article by a leading ABR practitioner. Patricia Leavy discusses the kinds of research questions these innovative approaches can address and offers practical guidance for applying them in all phases of a research project, from design and data collection to analysis, interpretation, representation, and evaluation. Chapters include checklists to guide methodological decision making, discussion questions, and recommended print and online resources.
About the Author
Patricia Leavy, PhD, is an independent scholar, formerly Associate Professor and Chairperson of the Sociology and Criminology Department and Founding Director of the Gender Studies Program at Stonehill College. She is the author or coauthor of numerous books on research methods, arts-based research, and transdisciplinary research. She is also a novelist and the editor of three book series. Dr. Leavy was named the New England Sociologist of the Year by the New England Sociological Association. She lectures and presents workshops, and is frequently cited in the media for her expertise in gender and popular culture. Her website is www.patricialeavy.com.
Table of Contents
1. Social Research and the Creative Arts: An Introduction, Patricia Leavy
2. Narrative Inquiry, Patricia Leavy
* What Kind of Mother…?: An Ethnographic Short Story, Karen Scott-Hoy
3. Poetry and Qualitative Research, Patricia Leavy
* Research as Poetry: A Couple Experiences HIV, Cynthia Cannon Poindexter
4. Music and Qualitative Research, Patricia Leavy
* The Role of Music in an Arts-Based Qualitative Inquiry, Norma Daykin
5. Performance Studies, Patricia Leavy
* Exploring Risky Youth Experiences: Popular Theatre as a Participatory, Performative Research Method, Diane Conrad
6. Dance and Movement, Patricia Leavy
* Writing Rhythm: Movement as Method, Mary Beth Cancienne and Celeste N. Snowber
7. The Visual Arts, Patricia Leavy
* Visual Portraits: Integrating Artistic Process into Qualitative Research, Carolyn Jongeward
8. Bridging the Art-Science Divide, Patricia Leavy