Starting your Research Project
Key Research Texts
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Practice as Research Practice-led research is a burgeoning area across the creative arts, with studio-based doctorates frequently favoured over traditional research. Yet until now there has been little published guidance for students embarking on such research. Designed specifically as a research training tool, the book is structured on the model used by most research programmes. A comprehensive introduction lays out the book's framework and individual chapters provide concrete examples of studio-based research in art, film and video, creative writing and dance, each contextualised by a theoretical essay and complete with references.by
ISBN: 9780857715876Publication Date: 2014
Art-write: the writing guide for visual artists: crafting effective artist statements and promotional materialsVicki Krohn Amorose(2013) Eugene, Oregon : Luminare Press. ISBN: 9781937303129
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Art and Artistic Research
Publication date: 2010 -
ISBN: 9783858812933
Visual Research Methods in Fashion by Julia Gaimster
At the performance turn, this book takes a fresh 'how to' approach to Practice as Research, arguing that old prejudices should be abandoned and a PaR methodology fully accepted in the academy. Nelson and his contributors address the questions students, professional practitioner-researchers, regulators and examiners have posed in this domaby -
ISBN: 9781847883810Publication Date: 2011
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Mapping Landscapes for Performance As Research Although the sciences have long understood the value of practice-based research, the arts and humanities have tended to structure a gap between practice and analysis. This book examines differences and similarities between Performance as Research practices in various community and national contexts, mapping out the landscape of this new field.by
ISBN: 9780230222199Publication Date: 2009 -
Art Practice As Research, Inquiry in Visual Arts Senior university and college students often find themselves presented with a dramatic new challenge- the task of writing their first thesis. What is expected? What should the thesis consist of? How can the whole process be made a bit easier? How to achieve the best possible result? Working within strict time limits, and under pressure right from the start, what does the student need to do to ensure that the thesis is finished? In How to Write a Better Minor Thesis, experienced advisors Dr Paul Gruba and Professor Justin Zobel lay out step-by-step guidelines for writing a minor thesis. Based on decades of working with students undertaking their first piece of research, they take novice researchers through the process of completing a minor thesis from initial steps to final on-time submission. Written in a friendly manner, this concise book--a companion to their senior text on the challenges of research writing, How To Write A Better Thesis--will help you to successfully tackle this fresh challenge. How to Write a Better Minor Thesis contains sections of condensed material from How To Write A Better Thesis, complementing the entirely new material written for minor thesis students.by Graeme Sullivan
ISBN: 978-1412974516. Publication Date: 2010
How to Start
Where to Start- Forming a Research Question
Phase 1- Your Practice and Interests
1) Reflect on your current creative project. Write down your motivations and aims for creating the project. Write down any significant discoveries you have made along the way.
2) Ask yourself, have there been any issues arising from the project that I could research? These issues may be based around the concept, themes or technical aspects of your work or a combination of these.
3) If you are struggling to identify any issues, talk with peers who know your work and ask them for feedback. Explain to them your motivations, aims and discoveries. Ask them if your work effectively achieves what you set out to do. Write down any issues related to your work that come from this discussion.
4) Based on the issues you and your peers have identified, select one or two issues that are the most interesting and important for you. These issues will form the basis of your research question.
Phase 2- Give yourself some structure
Using the 1 or 2 issues you have identified, you can narrow the focus of your research question. Here are a few questions to ask:
- Time period (Is my work related to a specific period?)
- Person (Is my work related to a specific artist, designer, theorist, performer or director?)
- Social or political issue (Does my work address a social issue such as war, disease, love, race or sexuality?)
- Contemporary issue (Does my work explore an issue in contemporary art or design?)
- What kind of role does my creative project have in the broader context of contemporary art?
2) Make a list of responses to these questions. Select which responses are most interesting and relevant to your creative project.
You will now have a narrower idea for your research question
Phase 3- Writing your research question
1) Play around with your research question. Write it down as a question or statement in a number of different ways. Try to get to at least ten different statements, but no pressure! Not all of them will be good. You might:
- Change around the phrasing of the issue
- Change your original words for synonyms
- Say the question out loud
- Explain it to one of your peers and write down your explanation.
2) Highlight the questions that seem clearest to you.
3) Forget about your question or topic for 24 hours. Instead, reflect on your creative project, watch some documentation or perform part of the project.
4) Return to your list of questions with fresh eyes. Make a list of the best three questions/topic sentences. If you have already identified that one question is the best one for you, stick with that one.
Phase 4- Finalising your research question
1) For each question, spend 10 minutes searching Discovery / Catalogue
2) Assess the results of your searches as you go and use these results to help you choose one of your three questions. Ask yourself:
- Is there a lot of information available on this topic?
- Has my question already been answered?
- Who is writing about the topic of my question?
- Which of my searches is finding results that are the most interesting and relevant to my creative project?
3) By answering the questions above, you will be able to select a suitable question. If not, reassess your question and repeat Phase 2 onwards. Alternatively, you may wish to discuss your question with your lecturer or supervisor.
REMEMBER: Your question will change over time. When you are making work and researching, your ideas will change and your question can too!
Using the Catalogue to find information on Art & Design Research Methods
The Library collections offer many resources on research methods. Doing a simple keyword search in the Library Catalogue will give you a list of many. You can use the keywords below as a starting point:
- Practice-led research
- Practice-based research
- Research-led practice
- Artistic research