Teaching and Learning Visual and Arts-Based Inquiry: Collaborative Visions and Possibilities in Graduate Education

Authors

Lucy E. Bailey, Oklahoma State University - Main CampusFollow
Stacie Warner, Oklahoma State University - Main CampusFollow
Erin E. Davis, Oklahoma State University - Main CampusFollow
Lindsay Myers, Oklahoma State University - Main CampusFollow
Joshua K. Taylor, Oklahoma State UniversityFollow
Andreya Williams, Oklahoma State UniversityFollow

Abstract

This paper describes a doctoral seminar in visual and arts-based inquiry (V/ABR) to champion the generativity of such approaches for advancing doctoral research. We first describe the social and institutional context of the course and its design to situate the projects and the need for creating institutional spaces to amplify creative inquiry approaches in doctoral education. Then, five researchers reflect on their research approaches, including comics, collaging, critical visual analysis, a virtual walkography, and photo-elicitation. The projects focused on contemporary issues including researcher identity, racial justice, mothering crises, and Christian summer camps, collectively underscoring the productivity of V/ABR inquiry for amplifying researchers’ imaginaries and processes of becoming. We underscore the necessity of exploring qualitative diversity in doctoral education to unsettle fixed inquiry approaches that Bailey (2018) calls “methodological taxidermy.” Collectively, we demonstrate the vitality of advancing doctoral research using creative methods in relational, socially responsive, and critical, visionary ways (Finley, 2003).

Keywords

graduate education, qualitative methodology, arts-based inquiry, visual inquiry

Author Bio(s)

Lucy E. Bailey (ORCID 0000-0003-1187-200X) is faculty in qualitative inquiry, social foundations, and gender, women, and sexuality studies at Oklahoma State University. She is a methodologist and diversity scholar, and the editor of VS: The Journal of Educational Biography. Please direct correspondence to lucy.bailey@okstate.edu

Stacie Warner is a doctoral student in qualitative inquiry and social foundations at Oklahoma State University. She is currently conducting arts-based research in critical disability studies and homeschooling. Please direct correspondence to stacie.warner@okstate.edu

Erin Davis is a doctoral student in qualitative inquiry and social foundations at Oklahoma State University. She is currently conducting an autoethnography of mothering. Please direct correspondence to erin.e.davis@okstate.edu

Lindsay Myers is a doctoral student in qualitative inquiry and social foundations at Oklahoma State University. She is currently conducting qualitative inquiry on Christian summer camps. Please direct correspondence to lindsay.myers@okstate.edu

Joshua Taylor, Ph.D., is the director of the Hargis Leadership Institute at Oklahoma State University. He is currently conducting research on student leadership in higher education. Please direct correspondence to joshua.k.taylor@okstate.edu

Andreya Williams. Ph.D, directs a Tulsa, Oklahoma based fellowship program. Her Ph.D is in higher education and student affairs from Oklahoma State University. Please direct correspondence to awil106@okstate.edu

Acknowledgements

Thank you to all the co-authors for their collaboration!

Publication Date

2-17-2024

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2024.5859

Recommended APA Citation

Bailey, L. E., Warner, S., Davis, E. E., Myers, L., Taylor, J. K., & Williams, A. (2024). Teaching and Learning Visual and Arts-Based Inquiry: Collaborative Visions and Possibilities in Graduate Education. The Qualitative Report, 29(2), 606-629. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2024.5859

ORCID ID

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1187-200X