Methods and procedures of transdisciplinary knowledge integration: empirical insights from four thematic synthesis processes

Hoffmann, Sabine; Pohl, Christian; Hering, Janet G.

doi:10.5751/es-08955-220127

Cited by 70 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Critiques about the lack of documentation and assessment of process, including steps or stages of engagement, strategies for facilitating learning and interactions across diverse backgrounds and ways of knowing, and practices for decision-making, power sharing, and conflict management have emerged across these literatures. Documentation and assessment of process would allow different efforts to learn from one another [87,139]. For instance, there has been a lack of attention to the process of knowledge exchange [90].…”

Section: Attention To Social Processes Of Knowledge Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Placing Transdisciplinarity in Context: A Review of Approaches to Connect Scholars, Society and Action

et al. 2019

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Complex sustainability problems (e.g., climate change) are challenging to understand and manage, leading to an increase in approaches that connect scholars to society and research to action (collaborative approaches). The transdisciplinary approach (TDA) represents one such approach. While TDA is new to many, there are several prior collaborative approaches including collaborative adaptive management, knowledge integration, participatory action research, and indigenous/local knowledge. Other contemporary and parallel approaches include citizen science, translational science, evidence-based practice, and knowledge with action. The varied disciplinary roots and problem areas contribute to a lack of interaction among these parallel but distinct approaches, and among the scholars and stakeholders who practice them. In this paper, we consider the connections, complementarities and contradictions among these distinct but related collaborative approaches. This review offers insights into the interaction between science and practice, including the importance of social processes and recognition of different ways of knowing, as well as how to conduct collaborative approaches on a variety of scales and think about how to generalize findings. The review suggests a need to rethink roles and relationships in the process of knowledge co-creation, both extending the roles of researchers and practitioners, creating new hybrid roles for “pracademics”, and placing greater awareness on issues of power.

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Section: Attention To Social Processes Of Knowledge Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Placing Transdisciplinarity in Context: A Review of Approaches to Connect Scholars, Society and Action

et al. 2019

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“…Numerous studies within the TD discourse discuss both knowledge types and their integration (Burger and Kamber 2003;Pohl and Hirsch Hadorn 2007;Pohl 2011;Zierhofer and Burger 2007;Klenk and Meehan 2015;Morton et al 2015;Hoffmann et al 2017). Overall, the main distinction of knowledge types is between scientific knowledge and practitioner-based expertise or the so-called science-policy interface (Munoz-Erickson 2014).…”

Section: Knowledge Types and Knowledge Integration In Transdisciplinamentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding mechanisms of conflict resolution beyond collaboration: an interdisciplinary typology of knowledge types and their integration in practice

2019

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Conflicts over land use and their resolution are one of the core challenges in reaching sustainable development today. The aim of this paper is to better understand the mechanisms that underlie conflict resolution. To do so we focus on the use and integration of different knowledge types for conflict resolution in three fields: natural resource management, transdisciplinary research and urban planning. We seek to understand what role different types of knowledge have in the different examples and contexts given. How is knowledge conceptualized and defined? How is it used and integrated to resolve conflicts? These questions are answered through a thematic review of the literature and a discussion of the different knowledge typologies from the respective research fields. We compare conflict resolution approaches and, as a synthesis, present an interdisciplinary knowledge typology for conflict resolution. We find that knowledge use centered approaches are seen as facilitating a common understanding of a problem and creating a necessary base for more productive collaboration across disciplines. However, it is often unclear what knowledge means in the studies analyzed. More attention to the role that different knowledge types have in conflict resolution is needed in order to shed more light on the possible shortcomings of the resolution processes. This might serve as a base to improve conflict resolution towards more lasting, long-term oriented and therefore more sustainable solutions. We conclude that the three literatures inform and enrich each other across disciplinary boundaries and can be used to develop more refined approaches to understanding knowledge use in conflict analysis and resolution.

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“…Transdisciplinary research strives to create integrated knowledge arising from cross-fertilization, a process whereby the interaction and interchange among two or more entities leads to mutually-beneficial and productive outcomes ("Cross-fertilization," 2018 [18]). However, "there are no clearly specified methods and procedures that researchers can follow to generate syntheses" and enable cross-fertilization (Hoffmann, Pohl, & Hering, 2017, p. 1 [19]), see also Pohl and Hirsch Hadorn (2008) [14] and Schäfer et al (2010 [15]). Bergmann et al (2012) [16] published a book about methods for integrative transdisciplinary research but their ideas were based on the Zurich approach to transdisciplinarity not the Nicolescuian approach, and they focused on methods rather than methodology.…”

Section: Transdisciplinaritymentioning

confidence: 99%

Philosophical Underpinnings of the Transdisciplinary Research Methodology

McGregor¹

2018

TJES

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T his paper is predicated on two assumptions. First, many scholars do not appreciate the philosophical underpinnings of their research, commonly grounded in three dominant methodologies -empirical, interpretive and critical. Second, if scholars were more familiar with a newcomertransdisciplinary (TD) research methodology -they would be more inclined to embrace it in their research. The paper begins with an explanation of four philosophical axioms (ontology, epistemology, logic and axiology) shaping the aforementioned dominant research methodologies. Then, each Nicolescuian TD axiom is described: (a) multiple levels of Reality mediated by the Hidden Third (ontology); (b) knowledge as complex, emergent, cross-fertilized and embodied (epistemology); (c) inclusive logic (logic of complexity) to facilitate contradiction reconciliation; and (d) transdisciplinary value formation (axiology). The paper concludes with a preliminary overview of Nicolescuian TD research methodology in action. When used in concert with the three longstanding research methodologies, the Nicolescuian approach holds promise for addressing the complexities facing humanity.

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Methods and procedures of transdisciplinary knowledge integration: empirical insights from four thematic synthesis processes

Cited by 70 publications

References 21 publications

Placing Transdisciplinarity in Context: A Review of Approaches to Connect Scholars, Society and Action

Placing Transdisciplinarity in Context: A Review of Approaches to Connect Scholars, Society and Action

Understanding mechanisms of conflict resolution beyond collaboration: an interdisciplinary typology of knowledge types and their integration in practice

Philosophical Underpinnings of the Transdisciplinary Research Methodology

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