ALARA Monograph 4 Engaging the Arts, Humanities and Design in Action Research and the Helping Professions

By using content from two action research projects, the authors offer an original theory of

developmental action research incorporating the benefits of the arts, humanities and design.

Through identification of a problem or need for change, imagination of potential solutions, and

mobilization of next steps, parallel methods in artistic and design processes and action research

can converge to facilitate reflexivity and praxis as products of purposeful action to engage in

social betterment in partnership with people who experience marginalization.

The authors offer a rationale for the inclusion of the arts, humanities and design linking

action research and the helping professions. They then consider the aesthetic dimension of

action research and show how the studio setting can serve as a safe environment for

experimentation and self-expression through verbal and non-verbal modalities, where the

artistic/design processes and products serve as metaphors for or equivalents of behaviors and

experiences used to develop prototypes for action and change. Through reflection and validation

from others, individuals gain insight and together work to design methods for individual and

collective development and social activism. The process of creative self-expression involving

action and reflection in groups facilitates catharsis, inspiration, and motivation steering

subsequent action.

The authors propose how the arts, humanities and design augment action research goals

through recognizing environmental and aesthetic impacts, reflection upon common experiences

and identification of strengths and resources to motivate and effect change among those who

experience social marginalization.