Social Fiction: My Turn to Fiction as a Research Practice

• In Event: 31.078 - Social Fictions: Creative Research for Social Change

Abstract

Objectives
The purpose of this presentation is to talk about the idea of “social fiction”. To do so, I will review how and why I turned to fiction as a scholarly research practice and what the results have been. I will talk about turning to fiction to represent interview and autoethnographic data, writing as inquiry, and extending public scholarship. I will talk about my own arts-based novels, Low-Fat Love and American Circumstance as well as creating the Social Fictions series for publishing the fiction-based research of others.

Theoretical framework
Arts-based research and arts-based educational research has grown steadily over the past several decades (Bagley & Cancienne, 2002; Barone & Eisner, 2012; Knowles & Cole, 2002; Leavy, 2009; Rolling, 2013). One area in which we have most recently seen growth is fiction as a research practice (Barone & Eisner, 2012; Leavy, 2013). Simultaneously, research-informed fiction is increasingly recognized as an effective pedagogical tool (Irvine, 2007; Leavy, 2013).

Methods
I will present my interview and autoethnographic research (centering on women’s identity issues) and why I turned to fiction in order to represent it. I will review what the response to the novels has been and how my work is a part of the Social Fictions series that publishes the products of arts-based research. I will also review the challenges and rewards of this kind of research practice, including issues related to publishing and the behind-the-scenes of developing the series.

Data sources
In order to illustrate the above points I will draw on my own academic novels and the Social Fictions series of which they are a part.

Results
This presentation will suggest, based on a review of the relevant literature as well as published examples, that fiction can be used as an effective research methodology, can deepen engagement with the products of qualitative inquiry and can extend public scholarship.

Scholarly significance
This presentation will teach attendees about fiction as a research practice, thereby contributing to their overall knowledge of arts-based research practice as a genre of qualitative inquiry.

Author

• Patricia Leavy, Self-employed