Chick-Lit as Arts-Based Educational Research

• In Event: 32.051 - Novel Approaches to Arts-Based Educational Research

Abstract

Objectives
The purpose of this presentation is to talk about chick-lit as one “novel” approach to ABER. Fiction is a research methodology that has the potential to foster deep engagement and public scholarship, and is also well suited toward research with a critical perspective, such as feminism. I will review how and why I turned to chick-lit as a scholarly research practice and what the results have been sharing the work with both student and public audiences. I will demonstrate that chick lit is well suited toward projects in which: 1. Young women inside and outside of the academic are a primary audience, and, 2. The research underlying the work was conducted with a feminist framework.

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, 2015; 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 research (centering on women’s identity, body image and relationship issues) and why I turned to chick-lit in order to represent it. I will review what the response to the chick-lit novels has been. I will also review some of the methodological “nuts and bolts” of working with this form.

Data sources
In order to illustrate the above points I will draw on my own arts-based chick-lit novels as well as research in the field.

Results
This presentation will suggest, based on a review of the relevant literature as well as published examples, that chick-lit can be used as an effective research methodology and pedagogical tool, can deepen engagement with the products of social research and can greatly extend public scholarship in service of a host of social justice issues, particularly feminist issues.

Scholarly significance
This presentation will teach attendees about chick-lit as a form for fiction as a research practice that fosters deep engagement, the development of empathy, self and social reflection, and public scholarship.

Author

• Patricia Leavy, Self-employed