Identifying other Types of Knowledge

Després et al. (2008, 329) in the Handbook of Transdisciplinary Research identify four broad types of knowledge that must be gathered together for successful research:

· “scientific” knowledge about how the world works (this is what we have discussed under Identifying Relevant Phenomena and Identifying Relevant Theories and Methods),

· “practical” knowledge about what is possible [which may be discussed in the scholarly literature, but may also require interaction with stakeholders],

· “ethical” knowledge about desirable goals [See our discussion of ethics in Differences in Values], and

· “aesthetic” knowledge of what is beautiful. [for some projects]

Various case studies in that handbook explore these different types of knowledge.

The case studies in Allen Repko, William H. Newell, Rick Szostak, Case Studies in Interdisciplinary Research (2012) all address “scientific knowledge”; those with a significant policy component also address “practical” insights; ethical issues are addressed most clearly in the Tayler, Repko, and Szostak chapters; Bal investigates aesthetic knowledge to the greatest extent.