What is Art-Based Research?
Arts-Based Research (ABR) can be defined in multiple ways.* One definition, "Arts-based research is simply defined by its use of the arts as objects of inquiry as well as modes of investigation” (McNiff, 1988 p. 15). Generally speaking, ABR is the use of artistic activity within the research process. For example, “...making one large painting over the course of a year which would focus on [the researcher's] relationship with her mother” (McNiff, 1988 p. 24).
For the most part, ABR is a type of qualitative research. It is the integration of art-making as another way of obtaining additional information (that maybe would have otherwise been inaccessible) to explore, understand and represent human action and experience. All this is accomplished while seemingly free from the barriers most scholarly and academic work tend to include, and thus has the potential to reach a broader, more diverse audience.
Some potential examples of ABR are:
- The use of art-journaling from participants in a study about clinical depression, where the product (the art journal) is used to facilitate and enlighten conversations and themes around the mental illness.
- Researching studies on post-traumatic stress disorders, then creating and performing a play on PTSD, pulled from personal experience, with the audience reaction and feedback used as focus groups to generate new data.
- Researching the idea of identity by incorporating the use of photography on mixed-race participants as they reflected on their lives and using the photographs to create narratives and discussion.
* NOTE: When in doubt, and your concerns are specific to an assignment or class, defer to the definition(s) to which your professor subscribes.