Skip to Main Content

Creative and practice-based research

Guidance on resources and techniques to searching the literature and writing for creative and practice-based research.

Your research statement

As a creative practice researcher, your creative works generate knowledge and research outcomes. It is important for the university and wider Australian research community to report and review these outcomes. Statements for ERA (Excellence in Research for Australia) reporting must follow guidelines set by the Australian Research Council (see the guidelines here: ERA 2023 submission guidelines).

When writing a research statement for an NTRO (Non-Traditional Research Output), it is important to express the context of the work, explain how it is research and why it is significant. Your research statement must be structured with three subheadings: Background, Contribution and Significance. These three elements present a comprehensive narrative of your research outcome. 

  • Research background

The scholarly field and your research question/hypothesis
  • Research contribution

How your research contributes to the field
  • Research significance

Why your contribution is significant to the field


The three sections combined must be a maximum of 2,000 characters (approximately 250 words), including spaces. Write your statement for an expert audience, but one that is not necessarily expert in your specific field or discipline. Be clear and concise, using plain language.

To submit details of your research outputs to the Research Office at RMIT, your statement and research evidence must be uploaded to the Research Outputs Capture portal. Information and support can be found on the Researcher Portal.

Research background section

Research background

The research background section of your research statement sets up the context.

In this section you should: 

  • Set up the research field and identify the ‘problem’ in the field. 
  • Articulate the question that motivated your research. 
  • Provide a description of the theoretical and practice context in which the project sits (similar to a literature review), not a description of your work or its background. 
  • Provide a brief review of other creative practice research and/or scholars who address the broad and narrow disciplines that provide a context for the work.
  • Provide researcher names and titles of publications and/or creative works and be specific about which of their ideas/practices you are engaging with through your creative work.
  • Name your discipline (in broad and narrow fields), even if this seems obvious, e.g. “cultural studies” (broad) and “qualitative studies of urban subcultures” (narrow).

Example

Background statement written by the researcher in support of their research outcome, David Carlin, ’The Historian’, Meanjin essay, 2019

Background: [1] Archival practices range from the formal to the vernacular. The ‘will to archive’ ([1] Featherstone 2006) operates not only within state [2] institutions of power but in the [2] everyday archival practices of collecting, preservation and ordering ([1] Eichorn 2008). [3] This essay examines how this impulse can operate on the domestic scale of a working-class family in Melbourne. It [3] asks what can be affected when memories and objects together produce history, through obsessive acts of defiance, patience and collaboration across generations linked in bonds of love. 

(c) David Carlin [2019]

In this statement, the author: 

  • [1] Sets up the research field with key scholars/concepts: 'Archival practices...', 'Featherstone...', 'Eichorn...'
  • [2] Describes theoretical and practice context: '...institutions of power...', '...everyday archival practices...'
  • [3] Articulates the research question: '...This essay examines how...', '...asks what can be effected when...'

 

Reference

Carlin, D. (2019). The historian [Creative work statement] https://researchrepository.rmit.edu.au/esploro/outputs/9921861462001341

Research contribution section

Research contribution

The research contribution section of your research statement introduces the creative work and how it is research.

In this section, you should: 

  • Introduce and describe the creative work. 
  • Be clear: use the title in the first sentence, make clear the specific role of the researcher (especially important in collaborative works).
  • Describe how the creative work addresses or responds to the ‘problem’ identified in the Background section. 
  • Consider: 
    • How does ‘new knowledge’ manifest materially in the work? 
    • How does your work expand/contribute to the field and do something new/different?
    • How does the work use existing knowledge to generate new concepts, methodologies, inventions, cultural awareness and understanding? 

Example

Contribution statement written by the researcher in support of their research outcome, Brigid Magner, 'From Grenfell to Gulgong & Back', Overland essay, 2018

Contribution: [1] 'From Grenfell to Gulgong & back' is a piece of narrative nonfiction which forms part of my ongoing project On the Trail: Reading Literary Places in Australia. [2] Based on fieldwork in Grenfell, Gulgong & Mudgee in New South Wales this essay narrates my journey around sites related to Henry Lawson's early years. The essay reflects on the relationship between Lawson's literary production and the ways in which it might have been shaped by the landscapes of his youth. My contribution is significant to the field of literary tourism [3] because it has been largely underexplored in an Australian context. In this essay I use the form of narrative nonfiction, to engage with literary heritage sites, as [4] this form allows me to freely record my own responses to place, which can be more difficult in standard scholarly forms.

(c) Brigid Magner [2018]

In this statement, the author: 

  • [1] Uses the work's title in first sentence: 'From Grenfell to Gulgong & back...'
  • [2] Describes creative work: 'Based on fieldwork in Grenfell, Gulgong & Mudgee in New South Wales this essay narrates my journey around sites related to Henry Lawson's early years. The essay reflects on the relationship between Lawson's literary production and the ways in which it might have been shaped by the landscapes of his youth.'
  • [3] Explains how the work contributes to the field: '... because it has been largely underexplored in an Australian context.'
  • [4] Describes how the work extends the researcher's creative practice: '...this form allows me to freely...'

 

Reference

Magner, B. (2018). From Grenfell to Gulgong & Back [Creative work statement] https://researchrepository.rmit.edu.au/esploro/outputs/9921862967801341

Research significance section

Research significance

Why does it matter (to the field)?

In this section, you should: 

  • State why the work and its contribution are significant to the field
  • Show evidence of this claim (of significance)
  • Describe why the work is important – don’t assume the reader is familiar with indicators of significance.
  • Include details of funding bodies, collaborators/partners, the prestige of venues or publishers, prizes, accolades or any other indicators of quality or peer review. 
  • Mention some evidence of excellence, such as: 
    • Who selected/accepted your work for presentation/publication?
    • How competitive and rigorous was the selection process?
    • Was the research outcome presented alongside the work of other researchers of high standing?
    • Which high-profile practitioners have presented their work in that publication/location previously or since? 

Example

Significance statement written by the researcher in support of their research outcome, Darrin Verhagen, ‘M+M’, Production soundtrack, Theatreworks, Melbourne Festival 2013

Significance: Verhagen's soundtrack [1] won a Green Room award (best sound design), as a radical reworking of a classic in which the sound design was integral in [2] challenging audiences, pushing discomfort alongside contemplation and seduction. [3] Co-commissioned by Theatre Works and Melbourne Festival, [4] supported by City of Port Phillip (Cultural Development Fund), Besen Family Foundation and The Australia Council for the Arts.

(c) Darrin Verhagen [2013]

In this statement, the author: 

  • [1] Provides evidence of significance (e.g. prize/award): '...won a Green Room award...'
  • [2] Describes why the work is important: '...challenging audiences, pushing discomfort...'
  • [3] Includes details of commissioning bodies: 'Co-commissioned by Theatre Works and Melbourne Festival...'
  • [4] Includes details of funding sources: '...supported by City of Port Phillip (Cultural Development Fund), Besen Family Foundation and The Australia Council for the Arts.'
Reference

Verhagen, D. (2013). M+M [Creative work statement] https://researchrepository.rmit.edu.au/esploro/outputs/9921859739001341