We Need to Talk About Complexity in Health Research: Findings From a Focused Ethnography

Abstract

There is increasing focus on complexity-informed approaches across health disciplines. This attention takes several forms, but commonly involves framing research topics as “complex” to justify use of particular methods (e.g., qualitative). Little emphasis is placed on how divergent and convergent ways of knowing complexity become negotiated within academic communities. Drawing on findings from a focused ethnography of an international workshop, we illustrate how health researchers employ “boundary-ordering devices” to navigate different meanings ascribed to complexity while they attempt to sustain interdisciplinary communication and collaboration. These include (a) surfacing (but not resolving) tensions between philosophical grounding of knowledge claims and need for practical purchase, (b) employing techniques of representation and abstraction, and (c) drawing on the fluid, ongoing accomplishment of complexity for different audiences and purposes. Our findings have implications for progressing complexity-informed health research, particularly with respect to qualitative approaches.

Advancing the Impact of Critical Qualitative Research on Policy, Practice, and Science

“…We use the practice level of science to refer to the actual doing of scientific research, the everyday practices in which people engage as they participate in processes of producing knowledge (Bloor, 1991; Latour, 1987). These practices include the methods used, the theoretical foundations and disciplinary knowledge banks drawn upon, the ethical and professional social relations of research work, the relationship between researchers and the communities with which they are engaged, and the mobilization of research knowledge within and beyond the academy (Latour, 1987; Papoutsi et al, 2021; Pinel, 2021). These constitute the typical “work” of scientists and others as they contribute to knowledge production.…”

Fluctuating power: an exploration of refugee health nursing within the resettlement context in Victoria, Australia

“…However, due to the quick and convenient design, this methodology often does not integrate long and complicated fieldwork, which Rashid et al (2015, p. 11) contest is a reminder of ‘ armchair anthropologists’, who work mostly by re-evaluating textbooks and other archives to understand distinct and unknown cultures in a more expedient manner. Although it enables depth of insight as researchers remain focused on specific research questions, this methodological approach has been criticised for inconsistencies in its paradigmatic orientation and for allowing limited scope for immersion compared with conventional ethnographic approaches (Papoutsi et al, 2021).…”

“Kicking and Screaming” or “Gracefully Conceding”: Creative Nonfiction Stories of Aging With Multiple Sclerosis

“…This is evident in work, as one example, showing different barriers, facilitators, fears, emotions, and trajectories of spinal cord injury rehabilitation (Smith et al, 2013). There have been increasing calls within health disciplines to utilize methods to show the complexity of experiences, and to ground knowledge claims with practical application by using techniques that represent participants and can show the complexity of an experience to different audiences in an understandable way (Papoutsi et al, 2021). Thus, a creative nonfiction design provides a novel, meaningful, and accessible way to (re)present the lived experiences of aging with MS, and share this with multiple audiences.…”