Artifact Construction Illuminating Wellbeing Amongst Saudi Arabian Women Academic Leaders: A Methodological Mapping in Four Artifacts

This paper reports upon the visual research methodology of artifact construction employed in semi-structured interviews to explore how Saudi women in academic leadership positions cultivate and maintain wellbeing. Ten Saudi Arabian women academic leaders were invited to draw, diagram, or annotate how they cultivate, maintain, and express wellbeing in a rapidly changing cultural context. Four exemplary artifacts were selected for analysis. Findings include that while semi-structured interviewing made themes visible, artifact construction extended the themes and illuminated unique aspects of the research question. Specifically, the artifacts illustrate wellbeing as holistic, interwoven of hedonic and eudaimonic aspects, and positioning self and others in a lattice of being well. It is intentional, balanced, spiritually sourced and sustained. It is generous and generative, animating abundance as both a process and a product of wellbeing. The artifacts are more than just a visual complement to the research story; they methodologically tap into the research question differently than verbal methods alone. While not every research participant accepted the invitation to construct an artifact, and methodological drawbacks are considered, the ones who did accept the invitation demonstrated that artifact construction captures complexity at the conceptual intersection of wellbeing and female academic leadership. This paper contributes new knowledge on the efficacy of artifact construction; in this case, in research sites beyond culturally ‘western’ ones.