Differences Across Teams

We have outlined on several other pages the characteristics of successful research teams. It should nevertheless be appreciated that there are important differences in the way successful teams operate. It would be a mistake to attempt to force all research teams to operate in precisely the same manner:

· Sometimes the group engages in cooperative learning, with all group members involved in regular conversations about how to proceed.

· At other times, group tasks are divided among members on the basis of expertise, with members working largely independently for long periods.

· In still other cases group leaders take on much of the responsibility for integrating ideas produced by group members.

· The suitability of these different approaches to different circumstances can be judged in terms of how well they generate particular results: do they identify relevant disciplines, theories, methods, and phenomena?; evaluate these different theories?; integrate them?; and so on.

These points are made by Stokols 2008, Klein (various places) and Pohl et al. in the 2008 Handbook of Transdisciplinary Research, 415).

Note also the special challenges of Collaboration at a Distance