The Question of Quality and Qualifications: Writing Inferior Poems as Qualitative Research

Jane Piirto, Ashland University

Abstract

Alternative forms of data representation have been widely recommended, including the writing of poems as educational research. The arts have their own ways. What qualifications do arts-based researchers need to have? How does one judge the quality of the product? Using part of a novel and three of her own poems as illustrations, the author, a qualitative researcher and literary writer, conjectures about the notion of quality and qualification in the use of art forms as qualitative research.