Fiction as Research Practice

The turn to fiction as a social research practice is a natural extension of what many researchers and writers have long been doing. Patricia Leavy, a widely published qualitative researcher and a novelist, explores the overlaps and intersections between these two ways of understanding and describing human experience. She demonstrates the validity of literary experimentation to the qualitative researcher and how to incorporate these practices into research projects. Five short stories and excerpts from novellas and novels show these methods in action. This book is an essential methodological introduction for those interested in studying or practicing arts-based research. Part I Fiction as Research Practice; Chapter 1 Blurred Genres: The Intertwining of Fiction and Nonfiction; Chapter 2 The Possibilities of Fiction-Based Research: Portraying Lives in Context; Chapter 3 Designing a Project: Fiction-Based Research Practice; Chapter 4 Evaluating Fiction-Based Research; Part II Exemplars with Commentary; Short Stories; Chapter 5 The Scrub Club, Elizabeth Bloom; Chapter 6 Visual Music, John L. Vitale; Novella; Chapter 7 The Wrong Shoe, Elizabeth de Freitas; Novels; Chapter 8 Waiting Room, Cheryl Dellasega; Chapter 9 Low-Fat Love, Patricia Leavy; Part III Conclusion; Chapter 10 Fiction as Pedagogy;