Fiction and Research: A Guide to Connecting Stories and Inquiry

Discover how fiction can breathe life into your research.
 
Fiction - in the form of everyday storytelling, prose, plays, films, folktales, and comics - can be powerful and resonant. This engaging book introduces the ways in which fiction can inform, inspire and enliven all kinds of research.
 
Presenting a range of case studies and examples from diverse disciplines, this book explores how and why researchers have employed fiction and fictional techniques throughout the research process, including using fiction to communicate research findings. An essential primer to thinking creatively with fiction, the book:
 

• discusses a range of theoretical perspectives on the use of fiction in research;
• explores challenges and ethical questions for researchers using fiction;
• offers practical advice, creative prompts and resources.

 
Enabling the reader to reflect on how fiction might be used in their own research, this comprehensive introduction will help students and experienced researchers embark on their own research-based fiction projects in no time.

Becky Tipper is a freelance writer and researcher.

Leah Gilman is a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow in the Department of Sociological Studies at The University of Sheffield.