Creative and art-based research methods

Creative and art-based research methods are now being used more and more frequently. The aim is to involve study participants even more closely in the research process than is possible with traditional instruments such as observation, documentation and interviews. They are used particularly in participatory research with structurally disadvantaged and/or stigmatized communities.

The method in brief

Art-based research methods represent a broad field. This can include many art forms, genres and practices: visual art (photography, drawing, collage), audiovisual art (film, video), multimedia forms (graphic novels) and performative art (poetry, theater, music). Narrative and poetic investigations, creative writing and storytelling can also be considered art-based methods. Arts-based methods can also include multi-method forms that combine two or more art forms - for example photovoice (photography and storytelling). Art-based methods can be used in different phases of research: as needs assessment methods, as data collection methods, in analytical processes and in the interpretation and further utilization of research results as communicative elements.

Art-based methods of social research are characterized by the fact that they involve the participants to a greater extent in data collection and evaluation, support processes of self-empowerment and empowerment, and pursue a practical benefit beyond the gain in knowledge.

Further questions about the method

Not all art-based research methods are equally suitable for all communities and for all purposes. It is important to find the right method in each case.

There are particular challenges when conducting arts-based methods with vulnerable groups (e.g. refugees, undocumented migrants), on sensitive topics (e.g. sexuality, violence, etc.) and in criminalized settings or closed institutions (e.g. prisons). All of this requires special care with regard to research ethics.

Very different partners often come together in the implementation of art-based research methods: Members from communities that are socially disadvantaged, as well as researchers and employees of the participating institutions who are more privileged. The structural conditions for equal participation in the (research) project are unevenly distributed. Aspects of power and privilege must therefore be actively reflected in their intersectional entanglement, even if the associated structural inequalities in project collaboration cannot be completely eliminated.

Collective art production can pose particular ethical and data protection challenges. Conflicts can arise over questions such as "Who speaks for whom?" and "Who owns the products or the data collected? What to do if community partners want to "show their face" in publications or be quoted by name? Which risks are acceptable and which are not? Reflection processes, ethically sound decisions and safeguards are therefore always required in order to minimize risks as far as possible.

Mapping one's own lifeworld is an interpretative act that necessarily involves selecting, focusing and interpreting social reality. It is always important to ask: What was photographed, filmed or drawn and why? What was not photographed, filmed or drawn?

Contact persons

Photo Tanja Gangarova

Tanja Gangarova

Research assistant
Department Integration &
National Discrimination and Racism Monitor

Selected literature

  • Hartung, S., Wihofszky, P., & Wright, M. (2020). Participatory research. A research approach to health and its methods. Springer VS Wiesbaden. URL: h ttps:// link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-658-30361-7