Quality & Rigour Project

An Ongoing Activity of the Toolkits & Methods Working Group

Core group:
Antonietta Di Giulio and Gabriela Michelini

Contributors:
Tamara Avellán, Gabriele Bammer, Céline Gressel, Josefa Kny, Bethany Laursen, Kristina Likhacheva, Melanie Mbah, Emilia Nagy, Varvara Nikulina, Theres Paulsen, Luis Pedro Carmo, Sibylle Studer, Bianca Vienni Baptista, Christian Wagner-Ahlfs

What is it about?

This project focuses on dialog and reflection on criteria, indicators and dimensions for assessing the appropriateness / robustness / scientific rigour/ effectiveness of (combinations of) tools and methods.

Recent Activities

November 4-8, 2024
The current status of the discussion will be presented at the ITD 24 Conference at Utrecht University, Netherlands. More information: https://itd-alliance.org/itd24

September 24, 2024
A new discussion meeting will take place to validate and initiate the implementation of the living document envisioned at the January 22, 2024, meeting. Contact us if you would like to receive more information.

January 22, 2024
Dr. Antonietta Di Giulio led an interactive meeting, during which the group decided the next steps. As a result, the group decided to develop a living document to capture the progress of their dialogues and discussions.

2023
We met for focused online discussion sessions approx. every 2nd month.

March 2023
We explored “What makes a method a good itd method?” in online discussions sessions and asynchronously on a mural board in January/February 2023. See the abstract in the call for participation online.

September 2021
In our workshop “Methods of knowledge integration in inter- and transdisciplinary research – what about epistemology and rigour? ” at the ITD21 conference we discussed the following questions, and we summarized our discussion in a report:

  • How does the choice of methods shape the problems (and problem spaces) that are investigated in transdisciplinary research? How are differences in cultural, political and social aspects dealt when deciding to apply certain methods? 
  • What criteria do you consider to justify the choice of methods for knowledge integration? 
  • How do you enact the scientific traceability of methods for knowledge integration and of the results of such methods (for instance in reports or papers) and what do you expect in this regard from others?
  • How can we qualify knowledge as valid although it is created with ‘new’ methods in transdisciplinary settings?