TY - JOUR

T1 - Changing Faces – Factors Influencing the Roles of Researchers in Real-World Laboratories

AU - Hilger, Annaliesa

AU - Rose, Michael

AU - Wanner, Matthias

N1 - Funding Information: Well-Being Transformation Wuppertal (WTW) is funded by the framework pro- Funding Information: At the science-society interface, new forms of experimental and transdisciplinary research approaches, so-called society-based laboratories, have been estab - lished to accelerate transformations towards more sustainable societies. The GAIA special issue Labs in the Real World: Advancing Transdisciplinarity and Trans formations, funded by the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts Baden-Württemberg and published in March 2018, brought the growing interna- Publisher Copyright: © 2018 H. Heinrichs; licensee oekom verlag.

PY - 2018/1/1

Y1 - 2018/1/1

N2 - Real-world laboratories (RwLs) often put researchers in highly demanding research contexts regarding their roles and self-conceptions. Helpful roles of researchers have been described but still little is known about the factors influencing the adoption of certain roles. Using data from three parallel RwLs in Wuppertal, Germany, we found four roles of researchers: The reflective scientist, the facilitator, the change agent and the (self-)reflexive scientist. We sequenced the RwLs into situations and analysed them by RwL process steps and conditions, considering the roles of researchers as outcomes. Although the conditions convey only limited explan atory power, there was a consistent picture that being pressured to carry out real-world action, having a practice partner with fewer resources and working without a functional project group is (in conjunction) sufficient to cause the researcher to partake in activities beyond conventional research. Process steps played a minor role. Our research on factors influencing the adoption of roles may help RwL researchers to perform their roles as intended.

AB - Real-world laboratories (RwLs) often put researchers in highly demanding research contexts regarding their roles and self-conceptions. Helpful roles of researchers have been described but still little is known about the factors influencing the adoption of certain roles. Using data from three parallel RwLs in Wuppertal, Germany, we found four roles of researchers: The reflective scientist, the facilitator, the change agent and the (self-)reflexive scientist. We sequenced the RwLs into situations and analysed them by RwL process steps and conditions, considering the roles of researchers as outcomes. Although the conditions convey only limited explan atory power, there was a consistent picture that being pressured to carry out real-world action, having a practice partner with fewer resources and working without a functional project group is (in conjunction) sufficient to cause the researcher to partake in activities beyond conventional research. Process steps played a minor role. Our research on factors influencing the adoption of roles may help RwL researchers to perform their roles as intended.

KW - Sustainability Science

KW - Qualitative Comparative Analysis

KW - real-world laboratories

KW - real-world laboratory flowchart

KW - roles of researchers

KW - transdisciplinarity

KW - transformative research

KW - Wuppertal

KW - Transdisciplinary studies

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85048256300&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.14512/gaia.27.1.9

DO - 10.14512/gaia.27.1.9

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 27

SP - 138

EP - 145

JO - GAIA

JF - GAIA

SN - 0940-5550

IS - 1

ER -