Transdisciplinarity and Shifting Network Boundaries: The Challenges of Studying an Evolving Stakeholder Network in Participatory Settings

Abstract

Participatory research engages a transdisciplinary team of stakeholders in all aspects of the research process. Such engagement can lead to shifts in the research design, as well as who is considered a participant. We detail our experiences of studying an evolving stakeholder network in the context of a 2.5-year transdisciplinary, participatory project. We show how participation leads to shifts in the network boundary overtime and how a transdisciplinary effort was needed to retrospectively redefine the network boundary. Through tacking back and forth between ethnographic insights, research aims, and modeling assumptions, the team eventually reached agreement on what determined network membership and how to code network members according to their timing and level of participation. Our account advances literature on boundary and modeling approaches to shifting, evolving networks by demonstrating how participatory transdisciplinarity can be both a driver of, and solution to, capturing the complexity of evolving networks.

Networks of action situations in social–ecological systems: current approaches and potential futures

“…Boundary specification can become even more challenging when using NAS approaches in transdisciplinary research, as social network analysis in a participatory setting suggests (Prell et al 2021). More fundamentally, quantitative methods that capture the complex NAS structure are only recently emerging (as discussed in Kimmich et al 2022).…”

Participatory approaches in water research: A review

“…As discussed by Carr's (2015) review on stakeholder and public participation in river basin management, participation of stakeholders is projected to bring three important elements: (1) opportunity for better quality decisions (from which “better” responds to sustainability development, social equity, and related areas), (2) interactions for human and social capital to mobilize and support implementation, and (3) legitimizing decisions to support implementations (p. 395). However, one challenge to conducting stakeholder engagement research is that stakeholders can change over the course of a project, as people move or start new employment that changes their role (Prell et al, 2021). Other challenges include conflicts between interest groups, power imbalance and the cost‐effectiveness of the project (e.g., cost of the project vs. outputs in decision making) (Carr, 2015).…”