ABSTRACT
Arts-based research methods cannot be theorised without discussing the underlying ontological, epistemological, and axiological orientations. Chapter 2 discusses these three topics in detail. In contrast to many traditional qualitative research techniques, arts-based research methods remove the researcher from the centre of the research process. Following relational materialist ontology, this chapter contends that both human and non-human materials can exercise agency and create meaning through their entanglement. The world and our understanding of it can be analytically divided into three layers: the real, the actual, and the empirical. The convergence of relational materialism and critical realism underpins the epistemology of arts-based research. This implies that certain studied educational phenomena exist in the world but that our understanding of them continues to develop over time. The researcher, the participants, the body, language, art materials, and the environment are not artificially bracketed by the researcher; rather, knowledge is co-created from the intra-action of all these elements. Moreover, arts-based research methods advocate for the equal epistemic status of the researcher and the participants. Both procedural ethics and relational ethics should be taken into consideration when designing and conducting research.
