Stories as a scientific method in art-based health research.

In a study that interviewed 36 art-based health researchers, one constant element shines: stories. This article investigates and theorizes the roles and meanings of stories in art-based health research. It discusses how stories can function as part of the scientific method. Built on the epistemological foundation of story as a way of complex scientific modelling, the article introduces the use of literary theory for the critical enquiry into the application of art in health research, arguing that art-based research is more than using artwork for data collection and knowledge translation. Story-telling and art-making, as it proposes, is a process of modelling real social change through the imaginary space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]