A critical realist knowledge production: Enhancing a Potential-oriented Approach

Mikael Stigendal and Andreas Novy

SRE-Disc from Institute for Multilevel Governance and Development, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business

Abstract: This article explores the implications of founding transdisciplinary collaborations of knowledge production in critical realism. We call such equal partnerships of researchers and practitioners knowledge alliances. Using the distinction between the referents that we refer to (what our research is about) and our references (our research about that), we show that practitioners can contribute to the process of knowledge production by providing access to referents and producing references but also by achieving relevance. Researchers and practitioners bring different types of knowledge. To become excellent, knowledge production should be organized in ways, which engage these different types in a constructive interplay. We call this approach potential-oriented, which we put in contrast to the empiricism of evidence-based research and policy-making. Our deliberate choice of the term potential-oriented reflects the shifts in philosophy suggested by critical realism, but also a sensitivity for how practitioners communicate and express themselves.

Keywords: knowledge alliance; critical realism; transdisciplinarity; social cohesion; urban development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 32 pages
Date: 2018
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hme, nep-hpe and nep-knm
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wiw:wiwsre:sre-disc-2018_06

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