Convenors
Fabio M. Esposito (corresponding scholar), CNR – IRPPS
fabio.m.esposito@gmail.com
Paolo Landri, CNR – IRISS
paolo.landri@cnr.it
Over the past few decades, the range of techniques and methodologies used in ethnography and the social sciences has expanded, embracing innovative – and sometimes ‘unconventional’ approaches – to tackle complex contemporary research questions that traditional methods often fail to adress (Kara, 2015). In this landscape, the use of «creative» or «inventive» approaches to research has gained momentum in academic environments, giving birth to a set of theoretical and methodological approaches included in the so-called «Creative methods for Social Sciences» (Giorgi et al., 2021).
Creative (or Inventive) methods draw from diverse disciplines, including visual anthropology, arts education, performance studies, feminist and critical theories, expressive therapies and psychology (e.g., Haraway, 2003; Botha, 2010; Hardy, Sumner, 2017; Pink, 2021; Leigh, Brown, 2021; Martinez, 2021). These fields, along with others, have provided the theoretical and methodological tools for more creative and embodied forms of inquiry, encouraging the democratization of the research process and the incorporation of marginalized voices; applying creativity not only to research and representation, but also to procesess of transformation and «healing» (Pisciotta, 2016; Hardy, Sumner, 2017).
Through the implementation of participatory laboratories, creative methods imply the creation of artefacts – including digital and/or immaterial ones – through which research participants can narrate themselves and their world in a «creative» manner. Encouraging the validation of situated knowledges and lived experiences, creative methods promote the development of dialogic processes that act as a basis for the definition of the research object, the production of data, the restitution of results and the activation of possible transformation processes. While traditional qualitative inquiry techniques also include narrative approaches and transformative aims, creative methods are distinguished by the depth of paticipant involvement and the specifically creative modes of expression «allowed». This enables to precisely intercept criticalities, opportunities and contextual needs, while connecting the detection of experiences and opinions with emotional, immaginative and ideational dimensions (Lury, Wakenford, 2012).
Creative methods embrace a wide range of techniques and possible fields of application in and out of academic research and are positioning themselves as an interesting opportuniy to explore new objects and dimensions of social research, on the other hand, they also pose new theoretical and methodological challenges.
Open questions
- Methodological challenges (gathering, organizing and analysing creative data; mixing techniques)
- Transformative dimensions (Impact on Policy and Communities, impact on subjects …)
- Scenarios, Case Studies & Contexts of Application (education, community-based research, health and wellbeing, urban studies, conflict resolution, environmental justice, corporate or organizational settings, …)
- Dissemination of results (challenges of representing creative data, non-traditional dissemination formats, …)
- Ethical issues (intellectual property, representation and voice, intrusivity …)
- Epistemological and theoretical considerations (validity, subjectivity and reflexivity; the role of the researcher, …)
Keywords
inventive methods; creative methods; transformative methods; situated knowledge, interdisciplinary methodologies, art-based methodologies.
Sub-disciplines or cross-disciplinary areas of concern
organizational studies; education studies; performance studies; medical humanities; feminist and critical theories; urban studies; museum studies.
References
Botha, L.
2010 «Mixing methods as a process towards indigenous methodologies», in International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 14, 4, pp. 313–325.
Giorgi, A., Pizzolati, M., Vacchelli, E.
2021 Metodi creativi per la ricerca sociale. Contesto, pratiche e strumenti. Bologna, Il Mulino.
Haraway, D.
2003 «Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Priviledge of Partial Perspective», in Lincoln, Y.S., Denzin, N.K. (Eds.), Turning Points in Qualitative Research Trying Knots in a Hankerchief. Lanham: Rowman & Littelfield, pp. 21-46.
Hardy, P., Sumner, T.
2017 «Digital storytelling with Users and Surviors of the UK Mental Health System», in Dunford, M., Jenkins , T. (Eds.) Digital Storytelling: Form and Content. London: Palgrave-MacMillan, pp. 57-69.
Kara, H.
2015 Creative research methods in the social sciences (Vol. 10). Bristol: Policy press.
Leigh, J., Brown, N.
2021 Embodied inquiry: Research methods. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Lury, C. , Wakenford, N. (Eds.)
2012 Inventive methods: the Happening of the Social. London: Routledge.
Martínez, F.
2021 Ethnographic experiments with artists, designers and boundary objects: Exhibitions as a research method. London: UCL Press.
Pink, S.
2021 Doing Visual Ethnography: fourth edition. London: Sage.
Pisciotta, A.
2016 «Sul rapporto tra sociologia, teatro e società. Elementi per una etnometodologia teatrale: il Teatro dell’Oppresso», in Cambio, 6, 11, pp. 65-76.
Convenors’ bios
Paolo Landri is the acting director of the Institute of Research on Innovation and
Services for Development at the National Research Council in Italy (CNR-IRISS), and co-founder of L@bEd, Interdisciplinary Research Lab on Education and Digitalization. His main research interests concern educational organizations, professional learning and educational policies.
Fabio M. Esposito is research fellow at the Institute of Research on Population and Social Policies at National Research Council in Italy (CNR-IRPPS) and member of L@bEd, Interdisciplinary Research Lab on Education and Digitalization. His main research interests concern the interplay of digital technologies, education and organizational processes.