In this book the authors take four different positions on research in the arts: a politico-economic position, a logico-deductive position, an empirico-paradigmatic position, and a socio-cultural position. Each emerges according to a community's claims about, and production of, research in the arts. The authors address questions of meaningfulness and significance, as well as relationships between beliefs and coherent research actions in order to reveal the relevant issues and debates as seen from within each position.
From within a politico-economic position, questions emerge about the role of national norms, institutional hegemony, and economic incentives towards research. Alternatively, from within a logico-deductive position research in the arts is considered as contributing to well-established or "dominant" academic paradigms. In an empirico-paradigmatic position, notions of "alternative" and "hybrid" paradigms, as opposed to "dominant" paradigms, become more relevant and it is from within this position that the authors consider negotiated attempts at producing research in the arts. Lastly the authors take a socio-cultural position to explain how the research activity emerges authentically as a function of the community values and the individuals that inhabit that community.
