Twentieth International Conference on Technology, Knowledge, and Society

Abstract

In recent years, arts-based research (ABR) has expanded beyond the field of educational research, where the term has been first coined in the early 90s by Elliot Eisner. Although mainly gathering participants and audience overseas, ABR now rapidly attracts the attention of researchers in Japan too ‒ an exploration of such methods can be seen in the fields of education, psychology, sociology, and by the artists as well. Since 2017, the team of researchers from Keio University (KeioABR) has been applying various arts-based research methods to sociology: street performance, novel writing, drama, sound, and video installations, etc. However, despite social sciences paying close attention to the art as a subject of research, and previously welcoming its methods to the field, there is a hesitation to accept arts-based research as a new methodology ‒ to welcome art as a tool or outcome for the research. This paper first traces the forming and spread of ABR as a methodology overseas and compare it to the field development in Japan. It then continues to the debate on the possibility of applying art as the method to qualitative research. This research aims to reestablish the relationship between art and science, and by blending two methods, implement a more creative, holistic, and audience-conscious research approach.