You mean Practice is a research method!

Suddenly you find there are many ways to bring practice into research.

 

As Victor Burgin [1] suggests in ‘Thoughts on research degrees in visual arts departments’, there are many forms of response to the research practice concept. Different models could be a ‘practice-based research’, ‘practice led’, or ‘practice related’.

 

The Slade School of fine art offers the choice between:

Practice-led: studio practice and 15,000 to 40,000 words

Practice-related: a written piece of 60,000 to 80,000 words with additional studio practice

Written thesis: 80,000 to 100,000 words

 

Other centres use terms such as ‘practice-based’ research. These terms seem to be eventually defined by the relationship between the written and the practice, the number of words to the portfolio of work. It could be said that the centre through which you were working should have their own definition of terms plus guidance for the research student, however some definitions are of the possibility of practice that could be included rather than direction for what is expected.  This might be because, as with my centre, they are as lost as me on what this all means!

 

 

 

[1] Burgin, Victor. “Thoughts on ‘Research’ Degrees in Visual Arts Departments.” Westminster University, 2002. http://www.westminster.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/74593/VictorBurgin_ThoughtsOnResearch.pdf.