Researchers cannot always rely on traditional methods for solving research dilemmas. In a research project that explored the friendships and social relationships of four students with severe disabilities in four secondary schools in New Zealand, the author uses poetic re-presentation to solve several ethical and pragmatic research dilemmas. Within a wider context of arts-based research methods, poetic re-presentation is a method of re-presenting participants’ stories to answer research questions. The method involves crafting transcripts in a caring and relational manner to foreground the students’ stories, create verisimilitude and focus on the essence of the experiences, create coherent storylines, and create evocative text. Background to the development of poetic re-presentation in social science research is provided, and a context and rationale for using this method is explored. The process of creating poetic text from transcripts is described and illustrated, using extracts from one student’s stories to contribute to the growing poetry transcription literature.
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