Eight criteria for practice-based research in the creative and cultural industries

Abstract

This article addresses two core problems in practice-based research: the identification of fundamental conditions and, therefore, the identification of actual examples. It is critical of the methods in many earlier case studies involving circular argumentation. The article assumes that research in the creative and cultural industries is both situated in the larger field of academic research and that it is a cumulative process. From this it develops a criterion-based approach to the necessary conditions for such research, thereby enabling the identification of actual examples. This approach solves the circularity problem of earlier case studies. The article concludes that there are four generic and four discipline-specific criteria for academic research in the field. From these criteria other consequences follow for the content of practice-based research. These eight criteria are currently being used by the authors to identify and study cases of practice-based research.