Art-Based Organic Inquiry: Creative Expression with Natural Materials

Abstract

This case is an example for an art-based organic inquiry, a qualitative method that incorporates heuristic and transpersonal features. This study honored the participants' lived experiences, while they engaged in creative expression with conventional art and natural materials as means for personal reflections on the stressors that accompany career life in major metropolitan areas. A thematic analysis of visual and verbal data, culminating with the researcher's creative integration in response to her findings and her own connection with the topic, provided a transparent picture of the method's descriptive and interpretive functions. This case describes the structure of art-based organic inquiry and its value in supporting the design of this qualitative research. Extracting from a master's degree thesis in art therapy, the authors provide examples for the method's role in each phase of the study and discuss limitations and potential for future applications of this approach in related fields of inquiry.

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