The Role of Research in Producing Evidence for Impact Generated through SEA Projects 

Three key approaches can be used to collect evidence of transformation that can create an impact. Evidence can be ‘hard’ quantitative data or ‘soft’ qualitative data collection approaches, or a blend of these approaches, referred to as a mixed approach to data collection. Most importantly, the evidence or data we collect should be collected through a formal, reliable, robust and strong approach. To select the correct approach, the SEA practitioner needs to understand which approach will be most suited to the project when planning methods for collecting evidence.

Softer and qualitative approaches include the collection of anecdotal evidence from interviews or storytelling that is then transcribed and coded. Hard and quantitative approaches may include surveys, questionnaires, polls, and so on. The most robust evidence is believed to include a blended or mixed approach, in which researchers collect data by selecting methods from both approaches.

Again, SEA practitioners must consider how they will use artistic approaches, if any, in the collection of evidence. Arts-based methods can be very useful in assisting SEA practitioners in collecting creative outcomes that can provide rich visual and textual data that can generate different ways of knowing about the realities that communities face and deal with. For example, collage making can overlap with creative writing or poetry to enable a whole new dynamic through which we can collect evidence of impact and empowerment. Patricia Leavy (2017, p. 191) aptly explains:

…the artistic process itself may be the enquiry. These approaches are most commonly used when the aim is to explore, describe, evoke, provoke or unsettle … it (arts-based research) follows a generative and emergent process, open to the unexpected – to surprises, new insights, and bends in the road. So, even when we have a plan for how a particular enquiry will proceed, in practice, it can and often ought to be a messy process.

Arts-based methods used for data collection can uncover underlying values, social injustices, identity and political complexities (Leavy, 2017).

The following factors need to be considered when selecting suitable approaches for collecting evidence in SEA interventions:

• Number of sources that provide evidence
• Quality of the sources that will provide evidence
• Process for the collection of evidence and how it is integrated into the project design
• Visual and text-based data that will be generated using arts-based methods
• Analytical approaches that will be selected to understand the data
• Arts-based approaches that can be used to analyse data