Arts-Based Research: Home

Welcome to the SVA Library Research Guide on Arts-Based Research! We hope it serves as a starting point for your study of this practice. If you are interested in more specific areas of this topic and would like help taking your research further, you can schedule a one-on-one appointment to speak with a librarian here: https://sva.libcal.com/appointments.

Janinka Greenwood, in their article for the The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education, summarizes Arts-based research as "encompass[ing] a range of research approaches and strategies that utilize one or more of the arts in investigation. Such approaches have evolved from understandings that life and experiences of the world are multifaceted, and that art offers ways of knowing the world that involve sensory perceptions and emotion as well as intellectual responses". The entire open access entry, which provides a detailed overview of the field, including a list of further readings, can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.29. 

"Arts-based research" is just one of many terms used to identify these practices, which can vary by country, the personal preference of a practitioner, or the time of publication. When conducting your research, you can also try terms like:

• art-informed research
• practice-based research
• practice-led research
• arts-based education research
• research creation
• artistic research

In this video below, Arts-Based Research: Definition, Procedures & Application, Dr. Patricia Leavy gives an introduction and overview of art-based research.