ART THERAPY RESEARCH

Tips for Conducting Art Therapy Research

		Research Categories AATA Research Forums Research Resources Research Bibliographies Art Therapy Evaluation Tools Conducting Research Publishing Your Research AATA Research Awards Funding Opportunities Art Therapy Outcome and Single Subject Studies Bibliography (Revised August 2007) (PDF 444KB)

1. Pull from your personal experience and topics that interest you (ie., diagnoses, specific populations, etc.).
2. Stay in touch with your personal artistic expression as a way of finding meaning.
3. Try to choose a topic that is accessible within your place of employment:
   1. Will your research meet the needs of your clients?
   2. Can your research contribute to developing treatment goals?
   3. Remember you will become a researcher as well as a clinician.
4. If you are a student: Try to choose a topic that would facilitate writing your thesis. This is a topic you that will be investing a lot of time into, so why not use it to get a head start!
5. Keep your goal(s) reasonable. They will grow on their own. Maintain records of what you would change or do differently. This could be included in your "results" section.
6. Keep in touch with your personal biases in conducting your research and how this could confound your findings.
7. Be proactive - seek support from peers and mentors. It's amazing how friends, professors or colleagues might be able to help you generate resources.
8. Consult your local AATA chapter research committee. If a research committee doesn't exist at the local level, take the initiative and create one! Host a research meeting to bring people together.
9. Go to the AATA conferences. Interact with others who have similar/dissimilar views, experiences, findings, etc.
10. Find out what other information is out there. Don't just focus on art therapy materials.
11. Artistic and imaginative discovery often occurs in unexpected ways so try to stay open to surprises and results that may challenge your more linear plans.
12. Enjoy your topic and have fun with it!
13. Stay healthy and reward yourself for your valuable contribution to the field.
14. PRESENT AND PUBLISH!!! Consider presenting your work at a conference, or submitting it for publication! You can start small prepare a poster session, for instance.
15. Just DO IT!

Source: Janie Rhyne (1992). How ideas are generated for research. In H. Wadeson (Ed.). A guide to conducting art therapy research. American Art Therapy Association: Mundelein, IL.