Thoughts that breathe, and words that burn: poetic inquiry within health professions education
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Brown, Megan EL
Kelly, Martina
Finn, Gabrielle M
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Qualitative inquiry is increasingly popular in health professions education, and there has been a move to solidify processes of analysis to demystify the practice and increase rigour. Whilst important, being bound too heavily by methodological processes potentially represses the imaginative creativity of qualitative expression and interpretation—traditional cornerstones of the approach. Rigid adherence to analytic steps risks leaving no time or space for moments of ‘wonder’ or emotional responses which facilitate rich engagement. Poetic inquiry, defined as research which uses poetry ‘as, in, [or] for inquiry’, offers ways to encourage creativity and deep engagement with qualitative data within health professions education. Poetic inquiry attends carefully to participant language, can deepen researcher reflexivity, may increase the emotive impact of research, and promotes an efficiency of qualitative expression through the use of ‘razor sharp’ language. This A Qualitative Space paper introduces the approach by outlining how it may be applied to inquiry within health professions education. Approaches to engaging with poetic inquiry are discussed and illustrated using examples from the field’s scholarship. Finally, recommendations for interested researchers on how to engage with poetic inquiry are made, including suggestions as to how to poetize existing qualitative research practices.
Date Issued
2021-07-20
Date Acceptance
2021-07-20
Citation
Perspectives on Medical Education, 2021, 10, pp.247-264
ISSN
2212-2761
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Start Page
247
End Page
264
Journal / Book Title
Perspectives on Medical Education
Volume
10
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2021. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs40037-021-00682-9
Subjects
Social Sciences
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Education, Scientific Disciplines
Health Care Sciences & Services
Education & Educational Research
Poetic inquiry
Qualitative research
Phenomenology
Health professions education
Medical education
Poetry
PHENOMENOLOGICAL RESEARCH
WONDER
Health professions education
Medical education
Phenomenology
Poetic inquiry
Poetry
Qualitative research
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2021-09-01