Research: For what and why?
About the knowledge generation
What motivates the organization to do research? What is the question that guides the need to develop knowledge? It is a question that leads outwards (to show the results of the activity to the world) or inwards (further developing the organization). How does the organization relate to the theme of Knowledge Development? This theme happens every day in the organization’s routine: in the artistic interventions in hospitals, in the artistic training, in the processes and workflows of the organization. How do I create a system to learn and reflect on the daily knowledge that the organization is generating? This question leads to a way of relating to the apprehension of occurrences in the day to day of the organization. Am I an organization that learns from practices and reinvents ways of acting, or participates more in reproducing processes already installed? Is there any time for reflection, evaluation, change of direction?
I believe that, today, clown organizations in healthcare can leave a great legacy for the future, with knowledge that can be shared with health professionals and students to create new health models and paradigms. How is my organization building this legacy? Specific research, on a specific topic, is a small snippet of all the generated knowledge that I choose to explore. So the first question is: How does my organization handle all the knowledge generated within it? Are there mechanisms for this knowledge to be recorded, systematized, reflected, and reinserted into the organization?
About research
Speaking specifically about research, one must understand: what’s it for? To prove to the scientific environment the effects of clown performance? To deepen working methods? To open new untracked borders? To broaden and deepen the knowledge to exchange experiences in the medical environment? To be an effective part of the discussion on health in the modern world? Having explored this universe of possibilities, the organization chooses to research a theme that communicates with its vocation. Even if this research is, for example, about the effects of clown performance in their practice (ie, directed outside the organization) the organization should take into account that this research, as a form of acquired knowledge, communicates with the organization. So, one should always consider such questions as: How do these results relate to the organization’s practices? How do they transform it? What did I learn from them? It is important to be clear about the importance of this involvement in order to relate to the research. Research, even if carried out by a university or other research body, is not always applicable in a neutral manner, and depends on how the organization uses it. It must interact with the organization, bring questions, and reflections that generate movement and new directions.I’m talking about living research, with a pulse.
Vision of science: What science am I talking about? Myths about science: neutral science, science as the source of truth, methodologies as instruments to be revered.
Clown work in health care is a complex phenomenon and should be treated accordingly. The organization will need to find researchers who honor this complexity. Researchers who propose strategies that communicate with this complexity. So, as much as the organization does not understand research and methodologies, it will still need to acquire some parameters to know if the proposed methodologies are meeting the complexity of the work. Remember that it’s the organization of clowns who has the property and depth of the knowledge. A close relationship with the researcher is required for this exchange and choice of methodologies. Science is not aseptic and neutral. It works more like a curious child asking questions about the world, exploring, and making connections. Science relates more to good questions than to answers. This is because good questions open up unexplored universes. A good scientist is not so far from a clown inside a hospital room. A clown has a briefcase full of methods and processes, but he will or will not use them from an initial void, by creating an open relationship to hear and interact with the phenomenon that he is studying. The methodology, the instrument to be applied, the questions of a questionnaire derive from this process. These instruments should be the result of this living and dynamic interaction that is established between a researcher and what will be researched. And the organization of clowns is a fundamental part of building this living relationship.
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