Collaborative Knowledge Production: Quality of Life in Saskatoon

Abstract

Collaborative research partnerships are a predominate model in current academic research and funding. A corresponding expectation of formal knowledge production is the applicability of research results to practical situations. The inclusion of knowledge users in the production process is understood as the most likely way to ensure the application of knowledge. The increased interaction and collaboration within the formal knowledge system affects the nature and implications of knowledge production. Stemming from observations of changes in the natural and information sciences, Gibbons et al. (1994: 34) describe Mode 2 knowledge production as “contextualized, heterogeneous, and reflexive production of knowledge for the purpose of application”. However, Gibbons et al. (1994) do not adequately address the changes of knowledge production within the social sciences. This project aims to fill this gap in the Mode 2 theory.

This thesis provides a case study of a Community-University partnership as an example of collaborative and applied research in the social sciences. Findings from a qualitative, interpretative and thematic analysis of documents indicate that the Mode 2 theory does not entirely describe research characteristic of the social sciences, and lacks in three essential components: issues related to institutional adjustments and ethics; funding and sustainability for Mode 2 research; and conflict and unequal power relations within partnerships. However, Mode 2 research is found to describe the essential framework for which this collaborative research partnership in the health and social sciences operated.