Collective Review: Transdisciplinarity: A Mapping of the Field

Abstract

Transdisciplinary research is gaining momentum within the German-speaking scientific community. We would like to present four anthologies on the topic and thus assess the field from a qualitative research perspective. The anthologies document the broad spectrum of contemporary transdisciplinary research methodologies. With the first two volumes on Klagenfurt School of intervention research, an important approach is presented that pursues a fundamentally qualitative understanding of the methodologies. The third volume, "Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Research: Practices and Methods," presents a wide range of methods and focuses on the transdisciplinary research practice itself. Finally, we present the volume "Transdisciplinary Research—Ideal and Actual Practice." The fourth volume, which was not prepared as an anthology with full papers, highlights transdisciplinary research projects evaluated in various scientific formats such as storytelling. In the discussion of the volumes, we reflect on the role of qualitative research methodology and methods within a transdisciplinary research cycle. We argue for qualitatively designed accompanying research as an instrument for the further improvement of transdisciplinary approaches. We accentuate that transdisciplinary research approaches would benefit from a qualitative reconfiguration of the research site, the relevant stakeholders and their interests, and the underlying power relations.