Collage

Culshaw, S. (2019). The unspoken power of collage? Using an innovative arts-based research method to explore the experience of struggling as a teacher. London Review of Education, 17(3), 268–283. The unspoken power of collage? Using an innovative arts-based research method to explore the experience of struggling as a teacher.

Research Challenge:

Difficulty in capturing the experience of struggle in research.
Respondents provided current versions of their struggle experience, viewed through a constructivist lens where meanings are constantly constructed and revised.

Arts-Based Research Method:

Spoken interviews conducted with collage incorporation to make participants slow down and make sense of their experience.
Collage as an art form helps conceptualize ideas and challenges ocular-centric culture.
Arts-based research reveals subtleties, profound feelings, and understandings that may be overlooked in traditional methods.
Teachers, familiar with speaking and writing, are prompted to think deeply rather than repeating familiar ideas.

Process and Reflection:

Participants engaged physically, worked independently, reflected, and rearranged collage pieces as their thinking evolved.
Allowed agency and a process of de and re-familiarization.
Acknowledges that sometimes words are not enough and that this approach may invoke discomfort.

Collage Creation:

Participants spent 10 to 15 minutes creating collages using materials brought in, including items from their homes.
Encouraged physical movement of materials, with some participants choosing to explain immediately and others finding it enjoyable or emotional.
In the second interview, participants reviewed collages using photos.

Analysis Framework:

Structural three-layered semiotic approach: conceptual, primary (descriptive and expressive), and context/content-driven (symbolic, analytical, and interpretative).
Examined the relationship between text (spoken interviews) and collages, focusing on themes such as color, meaning of objects, and organization.
Acknowledges the importance of not over-interpreting, considering participants' explanations (e.g., the role of color like pink).

Understanding Struggle:

Struggling is complex and situated in the individual but experienced in a social context.
Consists of interactions with people and objects in perpetual motion.
Research aimed to understand how struggle feels to participants and what it means in their context.

Lahman, et, al. (2021). Own your walls: Portraiture and researcher reflexive collage self-portraits. Qualitative Inquiry, 27(1) 136–147. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1077800419897699

Self-portrait creation: Using collage art form to enhance reflexivity in research.
Collage techniques: Encouraging non-artists to participate, using found items, clay, paint.
Methodological approach: Portraiture merges science and art, capturing human experiences.
Relationship building: Co-constructing portraits with participants, emphasizing positive relationships.
Focus on goodness: Highlighting positive outcomes, avoiding blame or magnifying failures.
Aesthetic whole: Describing data sets holistically, weaving themes into a cohesive narrative.
Collage research: Gaining attention in qualitative research, rooted in feminism and methodology.
Reflexivity in research: Continuous self-awareness, understanding of ideological influences.
Critical self-reflection: Analyzing personal biases, social backgrounds, and impacts on research.
Responsive adaptation: Adapting research approaches to respect participant dignity and autonomy.
Transparency and trustworthiness: Enhancing validity through critical examination of research processes.
Personal growth: Increasing self-understanding and improving research practices through reflexivity.

Darlene Edgar