Using arts-based methods to support embodied research with children and young people in physical education

Purpose: This paper responds to two questions: (a) What are the possibilities and tensions associated with using arts-based methods to support research with children and young people in physical education (PE)? and (b) How can the pedagogical attributes of embodiment in PE inform research with children and young people?

Method: Three PE researchers reflected on their use of arts-based methods with children and/or young people. The resulting reflections were analyzed inductively and deductively.

Findings: Arts-based methods can (a) foreground youth voice and agency, (b) generate embodied and rich data, and (c) enhance dissemination and impact. The three researcher reflections exemplified the pedagogical attributes of embodiment, suggesting the attributes have utility in PE research.

Conclusion: If researchers are to extend the field of PE, we need to extend our methodological repertoire to include methods that reflect its embodied nature, and the lives of the participants we are striving to better understand.