Contemplating the 3P Theory to Set Grounds for Criteria for the Understanding of Arts-based Research

Article Information

Creative Arts Educ Ther (2023) 9(1):33–44 DOI: 10.15212/CAET/2023/9/6

Contemplating the 3P Theory to Set Grounds for Criteria for the Understanding of Arts-based Research

Abstract

In this article, “3P” stands for possibility, plausibility, and probability, which indicate the progressive effects of prediction in research results. Advocating this 3P distinction, the author tries to showcase research as a spectrum of academic endeavor with varied objectives of prediction in research finding, on which arts-based research (ABR) bases its credibility on the possibilities it opens, apart from its aesthetic features. To open up possibilities through artistic endeavor, this author’s definition of ABR is a radical approach of diminishing knowledge processes that challenges the stereotypical norm that credible research is an accumulative and systematic knowledge-increasing process, as in the case of qualitative and quantitative research that takes plausibility or probability as its purpose. Through a critical review of the science history and by performing ABR, the author argues that ABR should be taken as a credible research method as long as it creates unprecedented possibility that is significant to human welfare and the progression of knowledge. It is also argued that, despite meeting the established criteria for credible research, a set of functional criteria for ABR as a methodology in its own right should be generated out of this awareness of 3P, in respect with the research purpose and matched methods.

Keywords: possibility, plausibility, probability, arts-based research, credibility

摘要

3P之“p”，是三种可能性的英文首字母，它们分别是未然之可能(possibility)、或然之可能(plausibility)、必然之可能(probability)，依次指向，在学术研究成果中，预测某种事件发生的可能性的三个进阶。通过区分3P，作者将“学术研究”解构为一个谱系，依据研究的目标，选择与之相匹配的研究方法，并采用不同的学术标准。其中，“艺术本位研究”作为有效的研究方法，不仅仅是因为它具有美学特征，更是因为它以“未然之可能”为研究目标，并且其可信度取决于此。以“未然之可能”为目标，以艺术创造为方法，艺术本位研究作为一种激进的研究手段，是一种“为道日损”的知识生产过程，它挑战了对“学术研究”的刻板印象——即学术研究应该是一个累积性和系统性的“为学日益”的知识生产过程，诸如在以“或然之可能”“必然之可能”为目标的定性和定量研究。通过对科学史的批判性回顾和艺术本位研究，作者提出：只要能够创造出对人类福祉和知识进步具有重要意义的前所未有的“未然之可能”，艺术本位研究就应该被视为有效的研究方法。作者还提出：“艺术本位研究”作为独立的研究方法，不必照搬现成的学术标准，而是应该基于对3P之间的相互独立性和相关性，设计一套自已适用的学术标准。

关键词： 未然, 或然, 必然, 可能性, 艺术本位研究, 标准