When the spiral of action research collapses: Using the arts to interpret and continue the process in collective research dialogues

Abstract

In the spiral of action research all participants are expected to work together towards a continuously developing fulfillment of the aims of the project. The data collection is supposed to lead to critical reflection, strategy development, and implementation in cycles, actively involving all participants and researchers. However, communicating processes that go wrong can be difficult. Facing the final communication of an action research project on medical education, we were invited to give a keynote lecture at a workshop with other action researchers. We used this invitation as an opportunity to reframe the researcher—practitioner collaborations as the culturally recognizable stories in the gap between research and practice. This allowed us to continue the action research cycle with a group of research peers that had not been part of the original project. Through the use of photos, music and film clips, and in the frame of a fairy tale, we worked as in a socio-drama, constructing two parallel and illustrated narratives, inviting the peer researchers at the workshop to reflect on our experiences, and to bring in their own experiences. This communication strategy helped us and the research peers to work through the emotional impact of our research. It also developed our understanding of the project process, and supported the peer researchers to tell and share their stories, giving them new insight into their own research processes.