Centre for Qualitative Research

Performative Social Science : Masterclasses, Workshops and Special Sessions

Masterclass

As a result of such methodological and epistemological ruminations (Jones 2006), the first two-day Masterclass in Performative Social Science was developed and held at Bournemouth in October 2005. Participants gathered for the two days to explore ways of using tools from the arts and humanities in dissemination of their own data. Small groups were formed that worked intensely over the two days to produce short 'productions' based on a selection of narrative text. Following the event, participants responded:

"A super opportunity to thrash through issues surrounding the dissemination of qualitative research, in particular the performance of it"
"The two days illuminated my thinking and offered me an opportunity to indulge my creative side. I already could see the value of this approach to research but this offered the chance to support my supposition"
"For my own research I believe this method will work well as a powerful tool for presenting my work"

The group agreed that maintaining some sort of contact following the Masterclass would be ideal. Thus the Performative Social Science (PerformSocSci) newsgroup was born. The list has grown to over 250 members from around the globe since its inception and includes participants from a wide variety of disciplines. The newsgroup is a place for online conversations, announcements of events of possible interest to members and, generally, a place for information pertaining to performative social science to be shared. Join the Newsgroup External Link

AHRC Performative Social Science Workshop Series
A Series of Exploratory Workshops in Arts-related Production and Dissemination of Social Science Data
2006-07

Special Sessions

The 6th Qualitative Research Conference in Health and Social Care 4th - 6th September 2006 included a Special Session: Performance-related Presentations of Qualitative Data. Presentations using tools from the arts and humanities were especially encouraged for this conference thread. Possibilities included, but were not limited to, performance, film, video, audio, graphic arts, new media (CD ROM, web-based production), poetry and so forth. Presenters were encouraged to limit their 'production' to 15 minutes, allowing ample time for discussion with their audience. 'Poster' presentations were also particularly welcomed. These were displayed in a kind of gallery space with opportunities for people to show their work two-dimensionally or three-dimensionally. Work that was interactive was particularly welcomed: videos, films, soundscapes, IT based production, etc. The great thing about these presentations was that they could 'run' continuously and were in a space where conference participants could explore them at their leisure. Download 6th Qualitative Research Conference from Google Video External Link .

For a personal description on the Conference and his stay at the Centre for Qualitative Research, see visiting scholar, Dr Daniel Dominguez' report.

Because of the success of this initial effort, a Special Section on PSS will be part of the next Bournemouth University Centre for Qualitative Research 7th Qualitative Research Conference, 8-10 Sept 2008 in Bournemouth. See for the Call for Abstracts for more information or to register.