Promises and Perils of Poetry in Research

1. Researching widening participation in dual sector institutions: trajectories, transitions and transformations Val Thompson The University of Sheffield ESRC FurtherHigher Project

2. Transformations - Overview • Context • Choosing poetry as a form for representation • ‘The Poetic Moment’ • The Proselyte • Transformation Time • AX1001: Gerrard • Promise, Peril and Potential

5. Choosing poetry as a form for representation • Poetry choosing itself

6. ‘The Poetic Moment’ (Gurevitch, 2002) • Freestanding poems (Raingruber, 2006) • Poems with endnotes (Faulkner, 2005) • ‘Found’ poetry (Prendergast, 2006) • ‘Sandwich text’ (Baff, 1997) • Tankas and Pantoums (Furman, et al, 2006,2007)

7. The Proselyte

8. Transformation Time (an extract)

9. AX1001: Gerrard

10. Promise, peril and potential • Promise (Eisner, 1997) • Peril (Faulkner, 2007 and Piirto, 2002, Brady, 1991) and Saunders, 2006 ) • Potential (Thompson, 2008): • Oral tradition • Mnemonic quality • Power • Flexibility • Freshness • Performance

11. References • Baff, S.J. (1997) “Realism and Naturalism and Dead Dudes” Talking about Literature in 11th Grade English Qualitative Inquiry Vol. 3 No. 4 pp. 468 – 490 • Brady, I. (1991) Prelude to Chapter 14 in Brady, I. (1991) (Ed.) Anthropological Poetics USA Rowman and Littlefield Publishers • Eisner, E.W. (1997) The Promise and Perils of Alternative Forms of Data Representation Educational Researcher Vol. 26 No. 6 pp. 4 -10 • Faulkner, S.L. (2005) Method: Six Poems Qualitative Inquiry Vol.11 No. 6 pp. 941-949 • Faulkner, S.L. (2007) Concern with Craft Using Ars Poetica as Criteria for Reading Research Poetry Qualitative Inquiry Vol. 13 No. 2 pp. 218 – 234 • Furman, R., Lietz, C. and Langer, C. (2006) The Research poem in International Social Work: Innovations in Qualitative Methodology International Journal of Qualitative Methods Vol. 5 No. 3 • Furman, R., Langer, C., Davis, C., Gallardo, H. and Kulkarni, S. (2007) Expressive research and reflective poetry as qualitative inquiry: a study of adolescent identity Qualitative Research Vol. 7 No. 3 pp. 301-315 • Gurevitch, Z. (2002) Writing Through: The Poetics of Transfiguration Cultural Studies Critical Methodologies Vol 2 No. 3 pp. 403 - 413 • Piirto, J. (2002) The question of quality and qualifications: Writing inferior poems as qualitative research Qualitative Inquiry, 15 (4), pp. 431 – 446 • Prendergast, M. (2006) Found Poetry as Literature Review Qualitative Inquiry Vol. 12 No. 2 pp. 369 – 388 • Richardson, L. (2002) ‘Poetic Representation of Interviews’ in Gubrium, J. F. and Holstein, J.A. (2002) (ed) Handbook of Interview Research Context and Method Thousand Oaks London New Delhi: Sage • Richardson, L. (1992) The Consequences of Poetic Representation in Ellis, C. and Flaherty, M.G. (eds) (1992) Investigating Subjectivity Research in Lived Experience Newbury Park London Delhi Sage • Saunders, L. (2006) ‘Something made in language’: the poet’s gift? Management Decision Vol. 44 No. 4 pp 501 -511 • Thompson, V. (2008) Pure Turkish delight: exploring the place of poetry in research writing (unpublished paper)