Animating social work research findings: a case study of research dissemination to benefit marginalized young people

Abstract

Findings in social work research are often disseminated in a manner that excludes the subjects of that research. In the SHINE for Kids – MyLifeNow research collaboration between a social work researcher, a communication design researcher and communication design students, research findings were animated in a variety of styles for distribution by the charitable organization. SHINE for Kids is a non-profit organization that assists and advocates for children with parents in prison. Transcripts of social work interviews with the children were modified into screenplays to be animated by communication design students. The animated documentary has advantages over the expository documentary mode, including protecting the identity of the subject and creating an affective video that constitutes a dual-process model of entertainment providing for a more socially connected pleasure.

Sparking the academic curriculum with creativity: Students’ discourse on what matters in research dissemination practice

“…Since CRD often relies on sensory and embodied ways of knowing, it enables researchers to disseminate their research in a format that is close to the subject matter (Kara and Gergen, 2020). In Social Work research, creative methods have been used to feed research results back to the participants of the study in a comprehensible and entertaining manner (Rose and Flynn, 2018). Within Educational Sciences, the reported advantages of CRD are a high critical engagement (McGregor, 2012), level of self-reflection (Shields, 2018; Sinner, 2011), and an enhanced level of understanding of theoretical concepts (Bailey and Van Harken, 2014).…”