There are still a lot of people who don’t really understand what creative research methods are, or what they are for, or when you might use them. These people are usually labouring under one misconception or another. So I thought it might be helpful to run through these misconceptions and explain why they are wrong.

1. Creative research methods are a new fad.

In fact research has always been a creative endeavour. The first clinical trial was conducted in the mid-18^th century. The questionnaire was invented in 1838, interviews were first used by researchers in the early 20^th century, and focus groups were devised in the 1940s. So the questionnaire was created less than 200 years ago, and the focus group was created within living memory. And no doubt ingenious humans were devising a whole bunch of other ways to try to find out new information since long before the clinical trial was born.

2. Creative is the same as innovative.

This is more arguable; there is certainly a lot of overlap between creation and innovation. However, there is also scope for creativity in the use of conventional methods. A questionnaire may include appealing visual elements and be creatively laid out on the page or screen. It is still a questionnaire, but a more creative one than the usual online or paper form.

3. Creative research methods are only useful for qualitative research.

Actually a lot of quantitative and multi-modal researchers do very creative work. Much of this is at the further reaches of disciplines such as physics and electronics, but some is more accessible. Piper Harron wrote her pure maths doctoral dissertation in a very creative way. Daina Taimina solved a centuries-old problem in hyperbolic geometry using crochet. And field biologist Colleen Campbell uses artistic techniques alongside her scientific work with bears and coyotes.

4. Creative research is the same as arts-based research.

Arts-based research is a big sub-set of creative research methods, but not the whole story. There is some very creative work being done with digital methods, embodied methods, and methods in multi-modal research.

5. Arts-based research is all about visual methods.

This is perhaps understandable because we are such a visual species, but it is incorrect. Arts-based methods do include visual methods, for sure, but also writing, music, drama, dance, textile arts – the lot.

6. Creative methods do not involve rigour.

This is closely aligned to the misperception that states creative research methods are antithetical to good research practice. This is absolutely not the case. The key principles of good research practice – designing carefully, working systematically, disseminating widely etc – apply whether you are using creative or conventional methods, or a mix of the two.

7. Only creative people can use creative research methods.

This implies that some people are not creative; a viewpoint I do not embrace. I believe everyone is creative. We all co-create our relationships with other people, for a start. Making and maintaining relationships is a creative process because no two relationships are the same, and the different relationships we have with different people demand different responses from us. Also, you do not need any formal qualifications or recognised skills to be creative: you don’t need an arts degree to use arts-based methods effectively, or great technical acumen to use digital methods well.

8. Creative research methods are only useful for gathering data.

I think this misconception arises because of the general conflation of research with data gathering. It is the visible part of research; the part we are all, regularly, asked to participate in; the part that research ethics committees focus on. But it is far from the only stage of research where creative methods can be useful. In fact, creative methods can be used effectively at all stages of the research process.