Methodological challenges of trans-disciplinary research: Some systemic reflections

Abstract

This essay was written in response to an invitation by the editors of NSS issued after the author had reviewed the paper entitled "Methodological challenges of trans-disciplinary research" submitted by Christian Pohl and Gertrude Hirsch-Hadorn (see Pohl and Hirsch Hadorn, 2008). The essay provides an accounting for the transformation in my emotioning as I read the submitted paper by introducing three sets of distinctions: (i) a model of research practice; (ii) an explication of the nature of research situations and (iii) an exploration of the different intellectual lineages that give rise to contemporary systems approaches. I then return to the paper that was under review through the lens of trans-disciplinary research as social learning. © 2008 NSS Dialogues EDP Sciences.