Methods and tools for co-producing knowledgeMethodstd-net toolbox

td-net toolbox

The methods and tools offered by the td-net toolbox specifically focus on jointly developing projects, conducting research and exploring ways to impact in heterogeneous groups. They are intended to help shape collaboration between experts and stakeholders from science and practice in systematic and traceable ways.

Learn more about the td-net toolbox

Actor constellation – workshop participants

Actor constellation

A role-play for jointly sorting out the relevance of various involved actors for tackling a specific research question.
Cartoon

Delphi

A poll for consolidating expert views on an issue using ratings and arguments.
Carltoon

Emancipatory boundary critique

A set of questions supporting non-experts in critically challenging an expert’s suggested solution to a problem and the solution’s social and ecological implications.
Give-and-take matrix

Give-and-take matrix

A tool for identifying pieces of knowledge to be shared between subparts of inter- and transdisciplinary projects.
Workshop participants exchanging most significant project impacts

Most significant change

A story-based, qualitative method for uncovering most significant project impacts experienced by individuals.
Multi-stakeholder discussion group

Multi-stakeholder discussion group

An approach that allows for expressing tacit knowledge, values and practices within a group of actors and stakeholders accompanying a (research) project.
Nomadic concepts at the intersection of various dimensions of humanities, cultural studies and social sciences

Nomadic concepts

A heuristic tool for exchanging understandings of concepts across disciplinary, professional and cultural boundaries.
Conceptual map of the three outcome spaces (1. Situation, 2. Knowledge, 3. Learning) indicating a transdisciplinary project embedded in the broader landscape

Outcome spaces framework

A framework to plan for preferred outcomes in transdisciplinary projects.
Research Marketplace

Research marketplace

A tool to initiate bilateral and small group exchange between (sub)projects that need to be linked.
Scenario integration photo

Scenario integration

Using scenario planning, this tool allows for collectively drafting possible future developments of a societal challenge.
Rich picture on an urban planning problem situation

Soft systems methodology

A systems thinking based tool for creating shared understandings of a problem situation, working out possible improvements and deciding on the one(s) to implement.
Process of publishing interdisciplinary research as result of applying the storywall method

Storywall

A story-based, qualitative method for retrospectively assembling crucial events in a collective process.
Illustration of interactions between elements of a theory of change. Note: This diagram builds on ideas from Outcome Mapping (Earl, Carden, & Smutylo, 2001), and conceptualizes the change process with: 1) relatively declining influence of an intervention over time and space, within spheres of control, influence, and interest; and 2) outcomes defined as behaviour change that is influenced by changes in knowledge, attitudes, skills, and relationships of key actors in the system.

Theory of change

A practical approach for iterative planning, monitoring, evaluation and learning for change-oriented research.
Discussing how to reformulate research questions so that they result in different types of knowledge

Three types of knowledge tool

A tool for tailoring research questions to (societal) knowledge demands.
Workshop participants sharing their discipline's notions of science

Toolbox approach

A tool to uncover implicit assumptions and shared understandings of scientific disciplines and to oppose them to the thought styles of other disciplines.
Venn diagram

Venn diagram tool

A diagram for forming groups around joint topics based on participants’ background, expertise, and interest.
Methods and tools for co-producing knowledge

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td-net – Network for Transdisciplinarity Research

Editorial Board

Gabriela Wuelser, td-net
Christian Pohl, ETH Zurich