Category: ARP Assess

Download my 10 minute presentation as a pdf. The original file is a Powerpoint.

I have used AI in the following ways during this Action Research Project:

• Search tool embedded within Google search engine and Google scholar search engine
• Transcription tool to transcribe the focus group conversations, via Adobe podcast transcription function available through UAL license.
• Live Captioning software within Year meetings, via Microsoft Suite PowerPoint live transcription function function available through UAL license.

Allen, K., Slaten, C., Hong, S., Lan, M., Craig, H., May, F., Counted, V. (2024). Belonging in Higher Education: A Twenty-Year Systematic Review. Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 21(5).

Barad, K. (2007). Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning. Durham: Duke University Press.

Baker, C. and Kirk-Wade, E. (2024) Mental health statistics: Prevalence, services and funding in England – House of Commons Library, House of Commons Library, UK Parliament. Available at: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn06988/ (Accessed: 13 Jan 2026).

BERA (2024). Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research, fifth edition (2024). [online] Available at: https://www.bera.ac.uk/publication/ethical-guidelines-for-educational-research-fifth-edition-2024-online#consent.

Braidotti, R An Ethics of Joy p221-224 in Braidotti, R.and Hlavajova, M. eds (2019). Posthuman glossary. London ; New York ; Oxford ; New Delhi ; Sydney: Bloomsbury Academic.

Carr, A., Cullen, K., Keeney, C., Canning, C., Mooney, O., Chinseallaigh, E. and O’Dowd, A. (2020). Effectiveness of positive psychology interventions: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 16(6), pp.749–769. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2020.1818807.

Denicolo, P., Long, T., & Bradley-Cole, K. (2016). Cases using different designs. In Constructivist Approaches and Research Methods: A Practical Guide to Exploring Personal Meanings (pp. 157-186). SAGE Publications Ltd, https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526402660.n11

Elizabeth, O.P., Jacobsen, M., Nowell, L., Freeman, G., Lorenzetti, L., Clancy, T., Paolucci, A., Pethrick, H. and Lorenzetti, D.l. (2021) An exploration of graduate student peer mentorship, social connectedness and well-being across four disciplines of study. Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, 12(1), pp. 73-88.

Franklin, S. (2015). Control : digitality as cultural logic. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Mit Press.

Hatfield, E., Hatfield, C., Cacioppo, J.T. and Rapson, R.L. (1994). Emotional Contagion. Cambridge University Press.

hooks, b. (2000). All about love: New visions. [United States]: HarperCollins Publishers.

hooks, b. (2003). Teaching community : a pedagogy of hope. New York: Routledge.

Hooks, B. (2018). TEACHING CRITICAL THINKING : practical wisdom. Routledge.

Howard, J. (2024) ‘Rivers of Life’, Participatory Methods website [Accessed 10 Jan. 2026].

Institute of Health Equity (2021). Structural Racism, Ethnicity and Health Inequalities in London – Institute of Health Equity. [online] Available at: https://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/resources-reports/structural-racism-ethnicity-and-health-inequalities (Accessed 13 Jan 26)

Iantaffi, A. (2011) Travelling along ‘rivers of experience’: Personal construct psychology and visual metaphors in research. In P. Reavey (ed.), Visual Methods in Psychology. Hove: Psychology Press.

Jones, C.S.; Bell, H. Unravelling Sense of Belonging in Higher Education: Staff and Student Perspectives at an English University. Trends High. Educ. 2025, 4, 45. https://doi.org/10.3390/ higheredu4030045

Kleinman A ‘Intra-Action – Interview with Karen Barad’ pp.77-81 in Mousse Magazine 34 (2012). Mousse magazine. Milano: Mousse.

Lawrance, E.L. et al. (2022) ‘Psychological responses, mental health, and sense of agency for the dual challenges of climate change and the covid-19 pandemic in young people in the UK: An online survey study’, The Lancet Planetary Health, 6(9), pp. 726–738. doi:10.1016/s2542-5196(22)00172-3.

Lee, P.S.N., Leung, L., Lo, V., Xiong, C. and Wu, T. (2010). Internet Communication Versus Face-to-face Interaction in Quality of Life. Social Indicators Research, [online] 100(3), pp.375–389. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-010-9618-3

Motta, S (2013) ‘Pedagogies of Possibility: In, against and beyond the Imperial Patriarchal Subjectivities of Higher Education’ in Cowden, S, & Singh, G 2013, Acts of Knowing : Critical Pedagogy in, Against and Beyond the University, Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, New York. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [16 March 2025].

Morris C (2021), ““Peering through the window looking in”: postgraduate experiences of non-belonging and belonging in relation to mental health and wellbeing”. Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, Vol. 12 No. 1 pp. 131–144, doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/SGPE-07-2020-0055

Murris, K. (2021). Navigating the postqualitative, new materialist and critical posthumanist terrain across disciplines : an introductory guide. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Reed, S ‘Method’ in ‘Principles — Practising Ethics’ (2020) edited by . Practising Ethics. [online] Available at: https://www.practisingethics.org/principles#method [Accessed 10 Jan. 2026].

Stark, W Agential Cut in newmaterialism.eu. (n.d.). New Materialism. [online] Available at: https://newmaterialism.eu/almanac/a/agential-cut.html. Accessed 15 Jan 26

Sykes, B (2017). An Introduction To Laughter Yoga | barrysykes.com. [online] Available at: https://barrysykes.com/laughteryoga.html [Accessed 15 Jan. 2026].

UAL Dashboard Chelsea BA Fine Art Students (Accessed 13 Jan 2026)

Vaughn, S., Schumm, J., & Sinagub, J. (1996). In Why use focus group interviews in educational and psychological research? (pp. 12-21). Sage Research Methods, SAGE Publications, Inc., https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452243641.n2

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Download the Ethical Action Plan, the participant documents for the Focus Group and an email discussion about the ethical considerations around the student video.

Disclaimer: this is not a confluence but it is some of my thinking-findings.

What has interested me as part of this research project, is how slippery the whole process and especially the ‘data’ has felt. The largest recorded engagement metrics (via mentimeter) actually represented some fairly difficult interactions which felt quite destructive to belonging.

Quantifying something abstract always loses something – a grasping at air. In this sense arts-based methods are much better at conveying and capturing complexity. I found this in my own River of Experience drawing, a much richer tool of understanding and analysis rather than data visualisations in the form of bar charts. (Maybe this is also because I am not a graphic designer and I am not good at data visualisations.)

Credit: River of Experience drawing of my ARP project (K.Beales Jan 2026), coloured pencil and pen on A3 fabriano paper

The research provided evidence of support for continuing to integrate experimental participatory non-methods into Year meetings, and the majority of students recognised these as positive contributions to developing an inclusive community. Many of these were rated as very effective on the likert scale.

Table above: Questionnaire 2 Q3 Likert scale

In addition, positively, the number of students who answered ‘no’ to Q1 (which was the same in both questionnaires) dropped from 9% to 0%, and this related to a corresponding increase in ‘yes’ responses from 52 to 59%[1].

Image: Outcome Questionnaire 1 Q1

Image: Outcome Questionnaire 2 Q1

The participatory methods, in particular the game elements I tested out e.g. the rock, paper scissors championship, did result in some limited mixing up of the existing social strata in the lecture theatre. One Focus Group participant named the set group of people they already know as their “safety circle” and we discussed how this can form an exclusionary safety bubble. Their proposed solution was to do a seat lottery which I hope to trial this coming term[2].

I am interested in the ongoing work of increasing student interactions in meetings and my research shows Mentimeter can enable the greatest number of interactions but as I have discussed this needs to be framed and moderated carefully.  

Table above: Interactions observed in Year Meeting Recordings

Moving forward, I am committed to continue to use Live Captioning. The Focus Group identified its importance for inclusivity not just as access requirement for the Deaf student but also for international students with English as a second language[3].

It is also clear that is important for students to be active contributors and that there is more work for me to do to provide opportunities for this. Students are for each other to share work, but generally they lack confidence to engage with this opportunity themselves. The student videos as a mediated presence, do offer a way forward for increasing student voice, despite the ethical complexity. Reflecting on the video the student reps made to introduce themselves, J said

“we put ourselves out there, you know, and… like that kind of made this space. It felt different… I just I felt less embarrassed just being there.” [4]

Overall, I care about this research and am committed to continuing to co-create with students, spaces of solidarity, care and community in Year meetings.

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Appendix:

Questionnaires https://kbealespgcert.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2026/01/15/arp-questionnaires/

Observations from Year meetings https://kbealespgcert.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2026/01/15/arp-observations-from-year-meeting/

Focus Groups https://kbealespgcert.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2026/01/15/arp-focus-groups/

Mentimeter https://kbealespgcert.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2026/01/15/arp-mentimeter/

River of Experience Drawing https://kbealespgcert.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2026/01/15/arp-river-of-experience-drawing/

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[1] Note: Some of these findings should be treated with caution due to the relatively small amount of responses proportionately to both Questionnaires (under 30 / 172).

[2]I: But yeah, yeah, because people always feel like, um, very safe when they’re sitting with someone they already know. And, um, I know it’s very hard to jump that circle outside. Oh, yeah. Like a safety circle. Yeah.

KB: The safety circle is a lovely phrase. Yeah. And it’s like, how do we keep the safety circle so people feel safe, but they still aren’t, like, it’s not like a safety bubble, you know, like where they don’t. It’s exclusive.

[3] J: “…because I’m not a English like a native English speaker. Sometimes I even when I’m like talking to like people who are British and like have a dialect. I wish there is a subtitle when I’m talking to them, like casually and like having the whenever having a lecture or Year meeting, like having a subtitle really helped me a lot.”

[4] O: I mean, I liked, um, Lucy doing the introduction video for all of us because I feel like because we put ourselves out there, you know, and… like that kind of made this space. It felt different… Um, because, yeah, I just I felt less embarrassed just being there, you know? 

KB: Yeah. That’s interesting to reflect a bit more on… would you generally feel embarrassed about being there?

J: …Um, I, I literally would not enter a lecture theatre if I was like five minutes late. I would literally just, like, stand out there and be like “pants” And then I’d leave. But, um, now I don’t care. I’m just like, I can just walk in. It’s fine, you know?

KB: (celebratory) Hey!

J: Finally.

Humour is a productive tool in teaching that I often utilise.

In Teaching Critical Thinking, bell hooks includes a chapter on humour, identifying “the sense of openness shared laughter can bring. Concurrently, when we shift our minds into laughter, we move from the left brain to the right brain creating a whole new place for thinking and dreaming, for creating great ideas” [hooks (2010) p.74]. Laughter also has a direct relationship with mental health and well-being, which artists like Barry Sykes explore through his practice of laughter-yoga [Sykes (2017)] .

Credit: Barry Sykes ‘An Introduction to Laughter Yoga’ in the Olympic Cauldron gallery, part of The Festival of Radical Play, The Museum of London 2017. https://barrysykes.com/laughteryoga.html

Within art practice we can also use humour as an effective tool in institutional critique and in critiquing power. However, it can tip into something more cutting or even harmful. Graciously, hooks notes, “Attempts at humour can be misunderstood, sometimes what we hope will amuse will instead create tension” [hooks (2010) p.72].

I experienced both ends of the humour spectrum during this research into Year meetings.

Year meeting 1 was a happy one – we started by playing a year-wide rock, paper, scissors championship and one lucky winner won half a multi-pack of monster munch crisps. There was lots of laughter which spilled into the rest of the meeting.

Year meeting 3 was the opposite experience. There was a specific context, I had been off sick the week before and still wasn’t feeling well. Students were feeling stressed and under pressure. It was one week before their first assessment, and approaching the first onsite collective exhibition that there were mixed feelings about. I had planned my first trial of mentimeter as a way of agreeing the name for the collective exhibition but the engagement spiralled into something quite negative after the first contribution was “I want a refund” *laughs*. One student’s suggestion was “the blind leading the blind” and I found this hurtful. I was able to use humour in this moment to redirect some of this energy by saying “thank you fans” *laughs*.

Credit: Slide 5 from my ARP Presentation – Mentimeter results Year meeting 17 and 24 Nov

The experience made me aware of the vulnerability of my position, and the difficulty of anonymity and the dangers of it too – enabling freedom without accountability. One contributor used the anonymity of the platform to suggest “Epstein island” as an appropriate name for the Collective exhibition, which I found particularly difficult given the epidemic in the UK of violence against women and girls. It made me reflect on:

• Elaine Hatfield’s work around Emotional Contagion and the way affective states can travel across groups.
• the way engagement can be productive or destructive, and is not necessarily de-facto positive. This shows in the data (Year meeting 3 had a high level of engagement).
• digital tools can offer the space for more engagement but this must be carefully framed and come with accountability.

In Year meeting 4 I learnt from this, gathering post-it notes contributions first before entering selected suggestions into Mentimeter for voting. Future uses of Mentimeter will be set up so that students’ names whilst not visible to the audience are traceable.

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Appendix: https://kbealespgcert.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2026/01/15/arp-mentimeter/

References:

Braidotti, R An Ethics of Joy p221-224 in Braidotti, R.and Hlavajova, M. eds (2019). Posthuman glossary. London ; New York ; Oxford ; New Delhi ; Sydney: Bloomsbury Academic.

Hatfield, E., Hatfield, C., Cacioppo, J.T. and Rapson, R.L. (1994). Emotional Contagion. Cambridge University Press.

hooks, b. (2010). Teaching critical thinking : practical wisdom. New York: Routledge.

Sykes, B (2017). An Introduction To Laughter Yoga | barrysykes.com. [online] Available at: https://barrysykes.com/laughteryoga.html [Accessed 15 Jan. 2026].

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Building on Barthes’ ideas (see ARP Blog 2), I tested out various participatory, experimental non-methods within the Year meetings that drew on over 20 years of practice as an artist educator. Alongside this I used convergent (and at times divergent) mixed methods including quantitative, qualitative and arts-based, gathered in parallel, to try to gain an integrated understanding of the impact of these experiments.

Quantitative and Qualitative Methods

Questionnaires

I decided to conduct 2 anonymous questionnaires, one at the beginning and one at end of the process, sent over email to the whole cohort. The initial questionnaire was designed as a benchmark, to create some baseline understanding to compare with the outcomes from the questionnaire at the end. In line with this, the first question was the same in both questionnaires. Each questionnaire was designed with a mix of open, ended questions with those seeking more quantitative data.

Appendix: https://kbealespgcert.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2026/01/15/arp-questionnaires/

Focus Groups

Hess (1968) noted that the focus groups offer researchers distinct advantages over the individual interview, identifying 5 elements: synergism, snowballing, stimulation, security and spontaneity[1] that are more present in the focus group context. Focus Groups also offered a time-efficient way of listening to students, which due to the pressures of my workload was an important consideration. I conducted 2 Focus Groups, one at the beginning which generated some co-design outcomes and one at the end of the process which was more evaluative. The 5 participants volunteered from the Student Course reps so there was a pre-existing representative function.

Appendix: https://kbealespgcert.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2026/01/15/arp-focus-groups/

More experimental takes:

Rivers of Experience methodology

I decided to drawing a River of Experience [after Iantaffi (2011) Denicolo (2016) and Howard (2024)] as a way of analysing and understanding my own experience of the Action Research Project. This was important for me as it gave space for my own art practice which often involves thinking-through-drawing and the affective dimension of both teaching and researching; as well as capturing some of the complexity at play.

Appendix: https://kbealespgcert.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2026/01/15/arp-river-of-experience-drawing/

Observation

I rewatched the recordings of the Year meetings. Inspired by Rosi Briadotti’s ethics of joy I decided to use clapping, laughing and whooping as metrics of engagement, alongside more ‘solid’ data like the number of students who spoke from the front or contributed via mentimeter etc.

Appendix: https://kbealespgcert.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2026/01/15/arp-observations-from-year-meeting/

Participatory, experimental non-methods tested in Year meetings

Over 4 Year meetings in the Lecture Theatre (3, 10, 17, 25 Nov) I experimented with the following in mixed-combinations. Some of these were initiatives I was already interested in trialling out such (e.g. Live Transcription) and others (e.g. Student Videos) came out of the initial Questionnaire and subsequent Focus Group discussions.

• Live Captioning
• Starting the meeting with movement / games
• Regular slot for sharing student work including student videos
• Developing a strong visual identity
• Inviting guests representing different facets of Chelsea e.g. library staff
• Making time for questions
• Option to do plasticene modelling for those of us who think with our hands
• Using digital interactive tools e.g. Mentimeter so lots of students can input
• Karaoke
• Using movement or games to increasing student interactions 

Live Captioning responded to a Deaf student’s access requirements but I was interested to see whether this made meetings more accessible for students with English as a second language.

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References:

Braidotti, R An Ethics of Joy p221-224 in Braidotti, R.and Hlavajova, M. eds (2019). Posthuman glossary. London ; New York ; Oxford ; New Delhi ; Sydney: Bloomsbury Academic.

Denicolo, P., Long, T., & Bradley-Cole, K. (2016). Cases using different designs. In Constructivist Approaches and Research Methods: A Practical Guide to Exploring Personal Meanings (pp. 157-186). SAGE Publications Ltd, https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526402660.n11

Iantaffi, A. (2011) Travelling along ‘rivers of experience’: Personal construct psychology and visual metaphors in research. In P. Reavey (ed.), Visual Methods in Psychology. Hove: Psychology Press.

Howard, J. (2024) ‘Rivers of Life’, Participatory Methods website [Accessed 10 Jan. 2026].

Reed, S ‘Method’ in ‘Principles — Practising Ethics’ (2020) [online] Available at: https://www.practisingethics.org/principles#method [Accessed 10 Jan. 2026].

Vaughn, S., Schumm, J., & Sinagub, J. (1996). In Why use focus group interviews in educational and psychological research? (pp. 12-21). Sage Research Methods, SAGE Publications, Inc., https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452243641.n2

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[1] Hess’ 5 elements:

1. synergism (when a wider bank of data emerges through the group interaction),

2. snowballing (when the statements of one respondent initiate a chain reaction of additional comments),

3. stimulation (when the group discussion generates excitement about a topic),

4. security (when the group provides a comfort and encourages candid responses), and

5. spontaneity (because participants are not required to answer every question, their responses are more spontaneous and genuine).

[Hess (1968) summarised in Vaughn (1996) p.13]

My ARP Question: How can a weekly Year meeting with a large cohort develop a culture of inclusion, belonging and community on Year 2 of the BA Fine Art at Chelsea?

I[1] have a large cohort of 172 students on the 2^nd Year of BA FA at Chelsea. Whilst most teaching takes place in tutor groups[2], the Year meeting is a 1 hour slot once a week, where we gather the whole cohort in the Lecture Theatre. I am specifically focusing on Year meetings as they pose complex challenges due the size of the cohort and the constraints of the architecture of the lecture theatre.

BA Fine Art students are a diverse cohort (see Fig. 1).

• 94% are under the age of 25
• 25% have a Declared Disability
• 32% are Overseas students
• 26% of our Home Students are from the Global Majority[3]
• 26% of our Home Students are the first generation studying at university

According to the UAL Dashboard 2025, only 4.6% of our students on the BA Fine Art declared a Mental Health condition. This is at odds with a national survey [see Baker and Kirk-Wade (2024)], which found that among those aged 17 to 19, the incidence was 23% post-pandemic. From experience, my students’ mental health is more in line with these national statistics.

Why does developing a culture of inclusion, belonging and community matter?

Allen et al’s 20 year literature review evidences the strong research base connecting belonging and positive mental health, and academic achievement in HE. “The sense of belonging in higher education is an important determinant of both psychological wellbeing and academic success. It influences key psychological constructs such as self-esteem, resilience, and the intrinsic enjoyment of learning.” [Allen, K. et al (2024) p.3 ].  

I believe, despite or perhaps because of, the large size of the cohort, the Year meeting provides a key opportunity for building community. The scale of student numbers is not necessarily antithetical to belonging, as there are other contexts in which belonging can play out in a mass of people, for example, participating in a carnival procession.

The potential of the Year meeting as a space of belonging is, however, problematized by the context of neo-liberalism. “The ideal type neoliberal subject is… orientated toward survivalist competition… This produces a space of hierarchy, competition and individualism through the eradication of spaces of solidarity, care and community.” [Motta (2013) ibid p.27]

Instead, I want to co-create with students, spaces of solidarity, care and community within 2nd Year on the BA Fine Art.

A student response to the Questionnaire 1 summarises why this is so important:

“In all honesty if I wasn’t on the course, I may avoid some of the community activities. Not because I’m mean spirited or undervalue others contributions but I have shy tendencies with low self esteem and worry about being a burden. The ability to develop a community is important to me because as I do it, things become less intimidating, less stressful and to take this with me after my schooling is important…”

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Figure 1: UAL Dashboard BA Fine Art, Chelsea College of Arts, CCW (Accessed 13 Jan 2026)

References:

Allen, K., Slaten, C., Hong, S., Lan, M., Craig, H., May, F., Counted, V. (2024). Belonging in Higher Education: A Twenty-Year Systematic Review. Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 21(5).

Baker, C. and Kirk-Wade, E. (2024) Mental health statistics: Prevalence, services and funding in England – House of Commons Library, House of Commons Library, UK Parliament. Available at: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn06988/ (Accessed: 13 Jan 2026).

Elizabeth, O.P., Jacobsen, M., Nowell, L., Freeman, G., Lorenzetti, L., Clancy, T., Paolucci, A., Pethrick, H. and Lorenzetti, D.l. (2021) An exploration of graduate student peer mentorship, social connectedness and well-being across four disciplines of study. Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, 12(1), pp. 73-88.

Institute of Health Equity (2021). Structural Racism, Ethnicity and Health Inequalities in London – Institute of Health Equity. [online] Available at: https://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/resources-reports/structural-racism-ethnicity-and-health-inequalities (Accessed 13 Jan 26)

Motta, S (2013) ‘Pedagogies of Possibility: In, against and beyond the Imperial Patriarchal Subjectivities of Higher Education’ in Cowden, S, & Singh, G 2013, Acts of Knowing : Critical Pedagogy in, Against and Beyond the University, Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, New York. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [16 March 2025].

Morris C (2021), ““Peering through the window looking in”: postgraduate experiences of non-belonging and belonging in relation to mental health and wellbeing”. Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, Vol. 12 No. 1 pp. 131–144, doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/SGPE-07-2020-0055

UAL Dashboard (Accessed 13 Jan 2026)

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[1] I am a teacher-researcher-artist, operating from an intersectional feminist position. As an employee of UAL, I am an academic and insider, and as a Year Leader for the 2^nd Year of the BA in Fine Art, I am in a position of authority and line manager. As an artist, I am often an outsider. As a student on the PGCert, I am a learner. Outside these various roles I am also: a mother; a trade unionist; a community organizer and someone who is Neuro-diverse (dyslexic). These different roles and perspectives that I hold within myself, affect the question I have chosen to research, and also the power dynamics at play.

[2] Seminars, workshops and tutorials take place within context of tutor groups which are around 30 students.

[3] UAL uses the term BAME (Black and Minority Ethnic) in line with wider HE sector. I prefer to use Global Majority.

[4] All from the UAL Dashboard 2025 – see figure 1.

Traditional research teaching “…tend(s) to encourage commitments to particular methodologies prior to the start of research projects. But the order is important, because methods always presuppose ontology, that is, they assume a particular philosophy about how ‘the furniture of the world’ is arranged.” [p.2 in Murris (2021)]

My research question poses some fundamental challenges in terms of understanding something as complex as belonging, yet alone measuring it. I find quantification increasing difficult; everything is reduced to code, to data and measurable outputs. Seb Franklin[1] identifies these mechanisms as driven by digitality, and identifies control as the underlying logic.

I am instinctively at odds with both quantitative and qualitative methods (such as thematic analysis) as every attempt at encoding something is that Karen Barad would term a ‘Cartesian cut’ that excludes something else, rather than an agential cut that draws a boundary within. As such I feel more at home in what I am starting to understand about postqualitative research, which is built on Karen Barad’s agential realism, whilst drawing heavily on Harraway, Deleuze, Foucault and others. Last year, I worked with colleagues to frame the newly revalidated 2Y BA Fine Art curriculum around some of Barad’s key ideas, for example, Unit 5 is called Intra-Action (the unit I was teaching whilst undertaking this research).

Karen Murris articulates post-qualitative “knowledge-making as an open, affirmative, joyful and political practice… reframing scholar-activism as a matter of response-ability to the world’s aliveness in ways which contest the deadening grip of quantification, measurement, competition and individualism that marks the audit cultures of academia” [p.39 in Murris (2021)]. Post-qualitative research embraces and creates space for uncertainty, complexity, messiness, embracing the in-becoming, emergent and unpredictable, understanding everything through shifting sets of relations. This is in line with an intersectional feminist approach. As Barthes used to state before every lecture:

“Method = phallic mindset of attack and defense (“will,” “decision,” “premeditation,” “going straight ahead,” etc.) vs. Non-method: mindset of the journey, of extreme mutability (flitting, gleaning). We’re not following a path; we’re presenting our findings as we go along.” [in Reed (2020)]

In her analysis of Barthes’ quote, Reed identifies the role that practice-based research plays. “This correlates strongly with discussions around practice-based, practice-informed, practice-led, and practice-related forms of research, where methods are often emergent, discovered through the practice of the research, developed in specific response to working with particular materials, evidence, data or people, over time.” [Reed (2020)]

As an artist this makes so much sense to me and feels very distinct to the more linear design methodologies (such as the Action Research cycle) that come out of the social sciences.

Here’s to not following a path but pursuing a tentacular and complex enquiry.

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See ARP Blog 3: Methods & Non-Methods Blog post.

References:

Barad, K. (2007). Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning. Durham: Duke University Press.

Franklin, S. (2015). Control : digitality as cultural logic. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Mit Press.

Kleinman A. (2012) Intra-Action – Interview with Karen Barad pp.77-81 in Mousse Magazine 34. Mousse magazine. Milano: Mousse.

Murris, K. (2021). Navigating the postqualitative, new materialist and critical posthumanist terrain across disciplines : an introductory guide. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Reed, S (2020) Method in Principles — Practising Ethics (2020) [online] Available at: https://www.practisingethics.org/principles#method [Accessed 10 Jan. 2026].

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[1]