Boundary Objects

Bergmann, Matthias , Thomas Jahn, Tobias Knobloch, Wolfgang Krohn, Christian Pohl, Engelbert Schramm (2012) Methods for Transdisciplinary Research: A Primer for Practice. Berlin: Campus. stress the importance of boundary objects. These are defined as anything that participants from different backgrounds can agree on at the outset. Examples include outputs (policy recommendations, new product etc.) or one or more guiding questions. One danger is that consensus may be more apparent than real, and so these boundary objects should be clarified in the research process. They have a few strategies here. There are then three strategies related to publications (for society, textbooks, reputation). They recommend that the research team think from the beginning about where and in what form they hope to publish results.