"An excellent introductory text for arts-based research (ABR)....It is time for the arts as research to reside in the research methods classroom and in research proper...."   read more »
—APA PsycCRITIQUES

"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."

-APA PsycCRITIQUES


"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


"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


"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, 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, School of Theatre and Film, Arizona State University


"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 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 Poindexter Cannon

4. Music and Qualitative Research, Patricia Leavy

* The Role of Music in an Art-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

About the Author

Patricia Leavy, PhD, is Associate Professor of Sociology, Chairperson of the Sociology and Criminology Department, and the Founding Director of the Gender Studies Program at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts. She has published widely in the area of qualitative research methods, is regularly quoted in newspapers for her expertise in popular culture and gender, and has appeared on CNN's Glenn Beck Show as well as Lou Dobbs Tonight. Audience

Students and researchers in departments of education, sociology, psychology, communications, nursing, and fine arts. Classroom Use

Will serve as a primary or supplemental text for advanced undergraduate- and graduate-level courses in interpretive inquiry, narrative inquiry, qualitative methods, and research methods.