Special series on arts-based educational research art in science?

This article presents the results of a study of artistry in the practice of research in the social sciences. Traditionally, science and art have been regarded as complementary, one dealing with the expression of feeling, the other with the pursuit of truth. Art, it is widely believed, is largely ornamental in life-nice but not necessary; science is critical to the future. Yet science has a personal side as well as a public one. What is the personal side of science like for those engaged in research in the social sciences? Do artistic considerations function in doing science? If so, where and when? We interviewed social scientists who were fellows at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences to secure insight into the role that artistry might play in the course of their work. This article describes what we learned.