Practice As Research: Poetic Inquiry

by Nicole Brown and Áine McAllister

Dr. Nicole Brown, is a creative methods innovator who is a regular SAGE Methodspace contributor. See Visual Journaling for Research, Embodied Inquiry as a Research Method, and Choosing Creative Methods: Conversation with Nicole Brown.

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Nicole Brown and Áine McAllister introduce an informal global network of creative researchers, Practice As Research. They discuss their own practice-based research in the context of working with and through poetry.

Membership is free and open to researchers using any creative or artistic modality. Sign up to the Practice as Research newsletter to keep up-to-date and/or use this contact form to connect with Nicole and Áine.

Practice As Research:

Practice As Research in its origins is closely associated with artistic, embodied and creative practices and research. The foundation lies with the understanding that practice and research are so closely interlinked that an interdependent relationship emerges. Through practice, we gain new understanding, which, in turn, shapes the practice that follows. With the rise of participatory research and research in non-academic contexts and settings, interest in practitioner research has gained significant traction across disciplines. In the wider research communities, there are now many terms in use to describe the research-practice nexus we are talking about here:

Practice-based research: this definition is commonly used within higher education/the creative sector and relates to research where the creative artefact is the basis of the contribution to knowledge

Practice-led research: within higher education/the creative sector this term describes research that leads to new understandings about practice

Practice-based enquiry/inquiry or Pedagogical action research: these terms come from the educational context and describe the research done on and in teaching practice. The educator engages in a systematic investigation of their own existing practices with a view to improve, innovate and further develop those practices.

Close-to-practice research: within educational settings, and propagated by BERA, close-to-practice research focusses on issues relevant to educators' practices and involves the collaboration between people whose expertise is research, practice or both.

Practice as research: this term comes from creative contexts and describes the research process that is framed as artistic practice and results in a creative output, such as a work of art, fictional writings or a performance.  

The definition of what Practice As Research is most notably shaped by disciplinary conventions and interpretations. It may constitute the practical work of production as well as the theorisation of practice in order to advance one's practice. In sum, practice as research is research that is carried out as part of practice or that is practice. As such, practitioners from a wide range of disciplines and traditions see their work reflected, as they engage in creative writing or arts or pedagogical research as part of their roles and activism work.

The wide applicability and range of Practice As Research means that it is often difficult for PAR researchers to feel part of a network. This is why Nicole has established a Practice As Research network that connects regularly via a seminar series. Members share their different ways of working, whilst exploring and discussing the similar issues they all encounter, from ethical issues and concerns around reflexivity through to issues of dissemination and the perceived lack of recognition of this alternative knowledge-generation.

Poetry As Research:

Within the scope of Practice As Research, research approaches have been developed that focus specifically on doing and making as part of the research process. Additionally, many ethnographic and autoethnographic studies also focus on the researcher's doing or learning within a specific context. Poetry writing has established itself as one such method of analysis and as a viable research output in itself, although it is still struggling free from the margins. Poetry is recognized for its power and its potential to offer other ways of knowing for the researcher and the reader, and yet to an extent it remains ‘othered’ itself. Poetry as research defends its position on two fronts. As a form of research, poetry must often stand up to robust inquiries into claims of truth and at the same time, it must measure up to the standards expected in terms of aesthetic value and craft. In fact, the attentive and attentional process of writing poetry offers the researcher the opportunity to explore truth, to carefully ‘turn’ truth, as the wood turner patiently and precisely turns wood to arrive at an object of integrity and beauty in both form and function.

It is against this backdrop that Áine and Nicole have established a Poetry As Research group. The purpose of the poetry as research group is to offer an opportunity to grapple with these concerns through discussion, reviews and critiques of poetic pieces emerging from autoethnographic or ethnographic research, poetic inquiry and other Poetry As Research work. Also, through reflection and feedback on the processes of individuals within the group and through engagement with academic literature in the field. In addition to sharing work and discussing the different processes of poetic inquiry, the collective is collaborating on joint presentations and publications. Their current work relates to Silence and Invisibility in the Academy.

Author bios:

Dr Nicole Brown is Director of Social Research & Practice and Education Ltd and Associate Professor at University College London. Nicole’s creative and research work relate to the generation of knowledge, the use of metaphors, identity and body work. Her books include Lived Experiences of Ableism in Academia: Strategies for Inclusion in Higher Education, Ableism in Academia: Theorising Experiences of Disabilities and Chronic Illnesses in Higher Education, Embodied Inquiry: Research Methods, and Making the Most of Your Research Journal. Nicole's most recent creative nonfiction has been published in the Journal of Participatory Research Methods, So Fi Zine and The AutoEthnographer. She tweets as @ncjbrown and @AbleismAcademia

Áine McAllister is a Lecturer at UCL Institute of Education. Her research and her teaching and learning interests include critical poetic inquiry as a dialogic and intercultural pedagogical approach, applied ethnopoetic analysis of dialogue to uncover voice and dialogue as a means to elicit poetry to the amplify the voices of refugees and asylum seekers. She is also a poetic practitioner. She tweets as @aine_mcallister

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