Art as a Tool to Read Social Science Data

Case Study—Teen Sexting Meets Jane Austen, Kara Walker, and Ryan Trecartin

Bibliographic Data

ID21206321
AuthorsJudith Davidson, Shanna Rose Thompson (0000-0003-2550-577X), Andrew Harris (0000-0003-2927-8818)
Year2014
Volume7
Issue2
Pages184-201
Publication date2014-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Review of Qualitative Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1940-8447 • E-ISSN: 1940-8455
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1525/irqr.2014.7.2.184
OpenAlexW2205962370
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited13

This paper examines the ways arts can serve as a tool to nourish richer and more thoughtful qualitative research interpretation. Using a study of youth views of sexting as the case example, the authors explore the ways encounters with the arts—specifically, literature (Jane Austen), visual art (Kara Walker), and video (Ryan Trecartin)—in interaction with the reading of social science data led one member of a multidisciplinary team to develop new critical questions and embodied awareness of youth views on the issue of sexting. The authors claim art can serve as a catalyst for deeper understanding of social science questions if we allow ourselves the time and circumstances for such inquiry. In today's world, where research teams are increasingly interdisciplinary, focused on a similar problem but highly diverse in the theory and techniques the members possess, art may be a means of developing new shared ways of approaching and experiencing a problem

Art · Embodied cognition · Epistemology · Multidisciplinary approach · Political science · Social science · Sociology · The arts · Visual arts · Computer Science · Digital Storytelling and Education · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Participatory Visual Research Methods · Psychology