ALARA Monograph 4 Engaging the Arts, Humanities and Design in Action Research and the Helping Professions

By using content from two action research projects, the authors offer an original theory of
developmental action research incorporating the benefits of the arts, humanities and design.
Through identification of a problem or need for change, imagination of potential solutions, and
mobilization of next steps, parallel methods in artistic and design processes and action research
can converge to facilitate reflexivity and praxis as products of purposeful action to engage in
social betterment in partnership with people who experience marginalization.
The authors offer a rationale for the inclusion of the arts, humanities and design linking
action research and the helping professions. They then consider the aesthetic dimension of
action research and show how the studio setting can serve as a safe environment for
experimentation and self-expression through verbal and non-verbal modalities, where the
artistic/design processes and products serve as metaphors for or equivalents of behaviors and
experiences used to develop prototypes for action and change. Through reflection and validation
from others, individuals gain insight and together work to design methods for individual and
collective development and social activism. The process of creative self-expression involving
action and reflection in groups facilitates catharsis, inspiration, and motivation steering
subsequent action.
The authors propose how the arts, humanities and design augment action research goals
through recognizing environmental and aesthetic impacts, reflection upon common experiences
and identification of strengths and resources to motivate and effect change among those who
experience social marginalization.