“Poem is What?” Poetic Inquiry in Qualitative Social Science Research

Abstract

This paper articulates the findings of a two-year Canadian federally-funded postdoctoral study — Poetic inquiry in qualitative research: A critical survey — on the use of poetry in social science qualitative research practices. Based on a 1000+ page annotated bibliography gathered into a critical anthology as the data for this project, the discoveries emerged that are expressed below. The bibliography consists solely of poems included in over 230 studies found for this multidisciplinary project, supported by abstracts and brief contextual notes. Selection criteria for included studies were peer-reviewed journal contributions only, bracketing out anything that had appeared in book form, in ‘Poet's Corners’, and also excluding poems appearing in theses or dissertations. Some of these excluded poems are cited in a separate Appendix. These criteria were made simply to limit the scope of the study to a manageable scale. Most of this poetically-informed scholarship has appeared in the past decade, although some entries date as far back as the 1970's and 80's. Conclusions are that poetic inquiry most often addresses topics with clear affective dimensions, and can be distinguished between participant-based and self-study foci, with occasional examples of theoretical studies. Participant-based studies generally draw on the literary tradition of found poetry to represent participant data. Self-studies may address more philosophical, phenomenological and/or poststucturalist opportunities that present themselves through the use of poetry in social science contexts.

The intersections of selves and policies: A poetic inquiry into the hydra of teacher education

“…The sampled words remain grouped as they were found and the researchers modify, juxtapose, adapt and adjust the rhythm, phrasing, and breaks of the sample. Researchers then add context through the use of various literary devices and poetic creativity (Butler-Kisber, 2002, McCullis, 2013Prendergast, 2009). The found poems are a new representation of reality that allow readers to experience a familiar event or idea in a new way.…”

“…Arts-based inquirers are oftentimes positioned as "researcherstorytellers" who do not "seek certainty about correct perspectives on educational phenomena" but instead use art to "raise significant questions about prevailing policy and practice that enrich ongoing conversation" (Barone, 2007, p. 466). More specifically, in our work we make use of poetic inquiry (Prendergast, 2009;Rath, 2001), an arts-based methodology that, while growing in popularity in qualitative studies, has not been used in educational policy research. As suggested by Prendergast (2009), "the potential power of poetic inquiry is to do as poetry does, that is to synthesize experience in a direct and affective way" (p. xxii).…”

“…More specifically, in our work we make use of poetic inquiry (Prendergast, 2009;Rath, 2001), an arts-based methodology that, while growing in popularity in qualitative studies, has not been used in educational policy research. As suggested by Prendergast (2009), "the potential power of poetic inquiry is to do as poetry does, that is to synthesize experience in a direct and affective way" (p. xxii).…”

“That's what they talk about when they talk about epiphanies”: An invitation to engage with the process of developing found poetry to illuminate exceptional human experience

“…Regarded as an umbrella term, it is an approach in which the tenets of qualitative research are merged with the craft of traditional poetry writing (Leavy, ). Methods include poetic transcription (Richardson, ), research poetry (Langer & Furman, ), transcript poetry (Luce‐Kapler, ), poetic representation (Prendergast, ) and found poetry (Glesne, ). Some consider the use of poetry as a representational practice contrasting with more distanced and authoritative qualitative representations of lived experience (Collins, ).…”

“…Found poems are created by taking the words of others and transforming them into poetic forms (Prendergast, ). In seeking to create found poetry, I took each interview transcript in turn and began by revisiting the annotations made during the phases of the IPA.…”