Incorporating Arts-Based Pedagogy: Moving Beyond Traditional Approaches to Teaching Qualitative Research

Rhia  Moreno; Kate Hobgood Guthrie; Katie Strickland

doi:10.20343/teachlearninqu.11.15

Authors

Rhia Moreno Augusta University https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1202-3691
Kate Hobgood Guthrie Piedmont University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2837-5950
Katie Strickland https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5607-5130

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.11.15

Keywords:

qualitative research pedagogy, data analysis, poetic inquiry, experiential learning, students as partners

Abstract

Arts-based pedagogy has the potential to reimagine “traditional” research to engage learners in expanded and innovative methods, while also creating space for student voices. Grounded in a Deweyan experiential framework informed by arts-based pedagogy, this reflective dialogue revolves around a pedagogical reframing of a data analysis unit in a qualitative research course with specific focus on the incorporation of creative analysis. We came together as three participants (instructor, student, and scholar) within this experience to collaboratively share insights on the pedagogical approach, particularly as experienced through the eyes of the learner. Implications include how arts-based experiential inquiry can empower novice researchers to explore new avenues for sense-making while also extending across disciplines to support the inclusion of arts-based reflective practices in higher education.

Click here to read the corresponding ISSOTL blog post.

Author Biographies

Rhia Moreno, Augusta University

Rhia Moreno is an assistant professor of education at Augusta University (USA). She teaches courses on educational research and methods. Her work focuses on experiential, multimodal, and critical pedagogies to support student engagement and learning.

Kate Hobgood Guthrie, Piedmont University

Kate Hobgood Guthrie is an assistant professor at Piedmont University (USA) and a part-time lecturer at the University of Georgia. Her work and writing centers on qualitative methodology and pedagogical approaches to support emerging researchers.

Katie Strickland

Katie Strickland is a fifth grade literacy teacher at Riverside Elementary School in Evans, Georgia (USA).

References

Abboud, Sarah, Su Kyung Kim, Sara Jacoby, Kim Mooney-Doyle, Terease Waite, Justine S. Sefcik, Hyejin Kim, Timothy J. Sowicz, Terri-Ann Kelly, and Sarah Kagan. 2017. “Co-Creation of a Pedagogical Space to Support Qualitative Inquiry: An Advanced Qualitative Collective.” Nurse Education Today 50: 8–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2016.12.001.

Barone, Tom, and Elliot W. Eisner. 2012. Arts Based Research. Sage: Thousand Oaks, CA.

Bhattacharya, Kakali. 2013. “Voices, Silences, and Telling Secrets.” International Review of Qualitative Research 6 (4): 604–27. https://doi.org/10.1525/irqr.2013.6.4.604.

Bhattacharya, Kakali. 2018. “Contemplation, Imagination, and Post-Oppositional Approaches: Carving the Path of Qualitative Inquiry.” International Review of Qualitative Research 11 (3): 271–85. https://doi.org/10.1525/irqr.2018.11.3.271.

Bhattacharya, Kakali. 2021. “Embedding Critical, Creative, and Contemplative Data Analysis in Interview Studies.” In Analyzing and Interpreting Qualitative Research: After the Interview, edited by Charles Vanover, Paul Mihas, and Johnny Saldaña, 371–89. Sage: Thousand Oaks, CA. https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/analyzing-and-interpreting-qualitative-research/book270977.

Bhattacharya, Kakali, and Meaghan Cochrane. 2017. “Assessing the Authentic Knower Through Contemplative Arts-Based Pedagogies in Qualitative Inquiry.” The Journal of Contemplative Inquiry 4 (1): 47–70.

Braun, Virginia, Victoria Clarke, and Nikki Hayfield. 2022. “‘A Starting Point for Your Journey, Not a Map’: Nikki Hayfield in Conversation with Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke About Thematic Analysis.” Qualitative Research in Psychology 19 (2): 424–45. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2019.1670765.

Cahnmann-Taylor, Melisa. 2009. “The Craft, Practice, and Possibility of Poetry in Educational Research.” In Poetic Inquiry, edited by Monica Prendergast, Carl Leggo, and Pauline Sameshima, 13–29. Sense Publishers: Rotterdam. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789087909512_003.

Cahnmann-Taylor, Melisa. 2018. “Four Guiding Principles for Arts-Based Research Practice.” In Arts-Based Research in Education, edited by Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor and Richard Siegesmund, 247–58. Routledge: New York. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315305073.

Cahnmann-Taylor, Melisa, and Kuo Zhang. 2020. “Arts-Based Educational Innovation and Poetic Inquiry.” In Encyclopedia of Educational Innovation, edited by Michael A. Peters and Richard Heraud, 1–6. Springer: Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2262-4_49-1.

Chatfield, Sheryl, Robin Cooper, Elizabeth Holden, and Kelly Macias. 2014. “Enhancing the Experience: A Multiple Case Study of Students’ Experiences Using Arts-Based Techniques in Learning Qualitative Research.” The Qualitative Report 19 (41): 1–13. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2014.1017.

Cutts, Qiana M., and M. Billye Sankofa Waters. 2019. “Poetic Approaches to Qualitative Data Analysis.” Education Publications 145. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.993.

Dadds, Marion. 2008. “Empathetic Validity in Practitioner Research.” Educational Action Research 16 (2): 279–90. https://doi.org/10.1080/09650790802011973.

Denzin, Norman K., and James Salvo. 2020. New Directions in Theorizing Qualitative Research: Performance as Resistance. Myers Education Press: Gorham, ME.

Dewey, John. [1934] 2005. Art as Experience. Perigee: New York.

Dewey, John. 1938. Experience and Education. Kappa Delta Pi: New York.

Drisko, James W. 2016. “Teaching Qualitative Research: Key Content, Course Structures, and Recommendations.” Qualitative Social Work 15 (3): 307–21. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473325015617522.

Eisner, Elliot W. 1981. “On the Differences Between Scientific and Artistic Approaches to Qualitative Research.” Educational Researcher 10 (4): 5–9. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X010004005.

Felten, Peter, Alison Cook-Sather, and Catherine Bovill. 2014. Engaging Students as Partners in Learning and Teaching: A Guide for Faculty. Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, CA.

Freeman, Melissa. 2017. Modes of Thinking for Qualitative Data Analysis. Taylor and Francis: New York. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315516851.

Guiney Yallop, John J. 2016. “Finding Grandma.” Poetic Inquiry II – Seeing, Caring, Understanding, 155–68. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-316-2_11.

Guthrie, Kate H. 2019. “‘Nothing is Ever Easy’: Parent Perceptions of Intensity in Their Gifted Adolescent Children.” The Qualitative Report 24 (8): 2080–101. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol24/iss8/16.

Guthrie, Kate H. 2020. “A Poetic Narrative of a Parent’s Perspective of Intensity in Her Gifted Child: It Really Is ‘The Most Challenging Coupled with the Most Amazing.’” Advanced Development 18: 128–43. https://www.gifteddevelopment.org/gdcstore/p/volume18.

Hare, Kathleen A. 2021. “Institutionalized States of Information Abstinence: Cut-Up Inquiry of Sex Educators’ Erasure Poems.” Art/Research International: A Transdisciplinary Journal 6 (2): 415–41. https://doi.org/10.18432/ari29540.

Healey, Mick, Abbi Flint, and Kathy Harrington. 2016. “Students as Partners: Reflections on a Conceptual Model.” Teaching & Learning Inquiry 4 (2): 8–20. https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.4.2.3.

Hsiung, Ping-Chun. 2016. “Teaching Qualitative Research as Transgressive Practices: Introduction to the Special Issue.” Qualitative Inquiry 22 (2): 59–71. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800415617204.

Lapum, Jennifer, and Sarah Hume. 2015. “Teaching Qualitative Research: Fostering Student Curiosity through an Arts-Informed Pedagogy.” Qualitative Report 20 (8): 1221–33. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2015.2246.

Leavy, Patricia. 2020. Method Meets Art: Arts-Based Research Practice. Guilford Publications: New York.

MacGregor, Emma, Nicole Serre, Teresa Cozzella, Barbara McGovern, and Lori Schindel Martin. 2021. “Quilting Emergent Advanced Practice Nursing Educator Identity: An Arts-Informed Approach.” International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship 18 (1). https://doi.org/10.1515/ijnes-2020-0088.

MacKenzie-Dawson, Sarah. 2018. “Intimate Uncertainties: A Mother Returns to Poetic Inquiry. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research 19 (3). http://dx.doi.org/10.17169/fqs-19.3.2661.

Maguire, Moira, and Brid Delahunt. 2017. “Doing a Thematic Analysis: A Practical, Step-by-Step Guide for Learning and Teaching Scholars.” All Ireland Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 8 (3): 3351–33514. https://ojs.aishe.org/index.php/aishe-j/article/view/335/553.

Mallette, Leo A., and Johnny Saldaña. 2019. “Teaching Qualitative Data Analysis Through Gaming.” Qualitative Inquiry 25 (9–10): 1085–90. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800418789458.

Moreno, Rhia. 2021. “Shaping a Critical Study Abroad Engagement through Experiential Arts-Based Inquiry.” Teaching & Learning Inquiry 9 (2): 1–21. https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.9.2.4.

Mulvihill, Thalia M., and Raji Swaminathan. 2019. Arts-Based Educational Research and Qualitative Inquiry: Walking the Path. Routledge: London. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315143361.

Mulvihill, Thalia M., Raji Swaminathan, and Lucy C. Bailey. 2015. “Catching the ‘Tail/Tale’ of Teaching Qualitative Inquiry to Novice Researchers.” Qualitative Report 20 (9): 1490–98. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2015.2306.

Nind, Melanie, and Sarah Lewthwaite. 2018. "Methods that Teach: Developing Pedagogic Research Methods, Developing Pedagogy." International Journal of Research & Method in Education 41 (4): 398–410. https://doi.org/10.1080/1743727X.2018.1427057.

Piotti, Anna, Elizabeth DeFelice, and Carrie Jackson. 2022. “Benefits of Community: Students-As-Partners Work by an Undergraduate Student, a Graduate Student, and a Faculty Member.” Teaching & Learning Inquiry 10. https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.10.25.

Preissle, Judith, and Kathleen deMarrais. 2015. “Teaching Reflexivity in Qualitative Research.” In Qualitative Inquiry and the Politics of Research, edited by Norman Denzin and Michael D. Giardina, 189–96. Routledge: New York. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315421377.

Scharp, Kristina M., and Matthew L. Sanders. 2019. “What Is a Theme? Teaching Thematic Analysis in Qualitative Communication Research Methods.” Communication Teacher 33 (2): 117–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/17404622.2018.1536794.

Schoone, Adrian. 2021. “Can Concrete Poems Fly? Setting Data Free in a Performance of Visual Enactment.” Qualitative Inquiry 27 (1): 129–35. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800419884976.

Shenfield, Robyn, and Monica Prendergast. 2022. “What Makes an Effective Teacher? Revealing Good Teaching Practice Through Interview Poetic Transcription.” In Analyzing and Interpreting Qualitative Research: After the Interview, edited by Charles Vanover, Paul Mihas, and Johnny Saldaña, 351–70. Sage: Thousand Oaks, CA.

St. Pierre, Elizabeth A., and Alecia Y. Jackson. 2014. “Qualitative Data Analysis After Coding.” Qualitative Inquiry 20 (6): 715–19. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800414532435.

Swaminathan, Raji, and Thalia M. Mulvihill. 2018. Teaching Qualitative Research: Strategies for Engaging Emerging Scholars. Guilford: New York.

Torrance, E. Paul. 1979. The Search for Satori and Creativity. Creative Education Foundation: Great Neck, NY.

Tracy, Sarah J. 2010. “Qualitative Quality: Eight ‘Big-Tent’ Criteria for Excellent Qualitative Research. Qualitative Inquiry 16 (10): 837–51. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800410383121.

Waite, Duncan. 2011. “A Simple Card Trick: Teaching Qualitative Data Analysis Using a Deck of Playing Cards.” Qualitative Inquiry 17 (10): 982–85. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800411425154.

Wolcott, Harry F. 1994. Transforming Qualitative Data: Description, Analysis, and Interpretation. Sage: Thousand Oaks, CA.

Wong, Michael, Ahmed Al-Arnawoot, and Katrina Hass. 2022. “Student Perception of a Visual Novel for Fostering Science Process Skills.” Teaching & Learning Inquiry 10. https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.10.32.

Zhang, Kuo. 2021. “Embrace the Uncontrolled Nature of Poetry Writing: A Poetic Ethnographic Study on International Graduate Student Mothers’ Intercultural Discourses.” Qualitative Inquiry 27 (3–4): 429–43. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800420920696.