Creative Research Methods in Education: Principles and Practices

Co-authored by an international team of experts across disciplines, this important book is one of the first to demonstrate the enormous benefit creative methods offer for education research.

You do not have to be an artist to be creative, and the book encourages students, researchers and practitioners to discover and consider new ways to explore the field of education. It illustrates how using creative methods, such as poetic inquiry, comics, theatre and animation, can support learning and illuminate participation and engagement. Bridging academia and practice, the book offers:

• practical advice and tips on how to use creative methods in education research;

• numerous case studies from around the world providing real-life examples of creative research methods in education practice;

• reflective discussion questions to support learning.

Editor of the Creative Research Methods in Practice book series Helen Kara is a leading independent researcher, author, teacher and speaker specialising in research methods, particularly creative methods, and research ethics. With over twenty years’ experience as an independent researcher Helen now teaches doctoral students and staff at higher education institutions worldwide. She is a prolific academic author with over 25 titles and 3000 citations; notably Creative Research Methods: A Practical Guide in its second edition and Research and Evaluation for Busy Students and Practitioners in its third. Besides her regular blogs and videos, she also writes comics and fiction. Helen is an Affiliate at Swansea University, a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University, and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. In 2021, at the age of 56, she was diagnosed autistic. Her neurodivergence explains her lifelong fascination with, and ability to focus on, words, language and writing.

Narelle Lemon is an educator, researcher, writer and creative having studied classical music and visual arts. She currently works as an Associate Professor in Education at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia and supports the development of future teachers. Narelle's overarching research area is focused on participation and engagement. She explores this through a variety of avenues including social media use for learning and professional development; creativity and arts education; and positive psychology specifically focused on mindfulness.

Dawn Mannay is Professor of Creative Research Methodologies at Cardiff University.

Megan McPherson is a practicing artist, a Research Fellow at the Research Unit for Indigenous Arts and Cultures, and an academic at The Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development at The Victorian College of The Arts, The University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on the learning experiences of artists and the spaces these practices are enacted with agency and justice. Megan has exhibited artworks since 1988. She has published in the areas of scholarship of learning and teaching in higher education; subjectivities, agency and affect in the university studio; and social media use in academia.