My session proposal for next year’s Canadian Sociological Association Annual Conference during Congress (held next May  28th to June 4th in Fredericton) was recently accepted by the organizing committee. I’m looking for papers that discuss some aspect of “Transdisciplinary Research Methodologies.” Here is the description for the session:

Defined as a research practice in which ‘boundaries between and beyond disciplines are transcended and knowledge and perspectives from different scientific disciplines as well as nonscientific sources are integrated’ (Flinterman et al, 2001), transdisciplinarity has gained currency in academia and public discourse as part of a growing recognition that responses to wide-ranging problems must be multi-pronged, multidimensional, and draw on many forms of data and analytic resources. Sociologists have much to contribute to such projects. Yet sociologists working collaboratively across disciplines face many challenges, one set of which pertains to methodology. This panel addresses methodological challenges faced by transdisciplinary researchers. In particular, paper will focus on novels approaches to research that overcome these challenges.

Update:

We’ve scheduled two panels for the theme. Here are the papers:

May 31 – 1:30-3:00pm

Jacqueline Low, University of New Brunswick
Recruiting Seniors And Social Workers: Implications For Research Designs Across Disciplines

Will C. van den Hoonaard, University of New Brunswick
The Colonization Of Social Research By Bio- Medical Paradigms

Peter Duinker, Dalhousie University
Interdisciplinarity, Transdisciplinarity, Antidisciplinarity: What To Choose For Resource And Environmental Studies?

June 2 – 8:45-10:15am

Jenny Godley, University of Calgary
Using Social Network Analysis To Assess Collaboration In Obesity Research: Evidence From A Canadian University

Cathy Holtmann, University of New Brunswick; Steve McMullin, University of New Brunswick; Nancy Nason-Clark, University of New Brunswick
Interweaving Research On Abuse In Families Of Faith And Social Action: The RAVE {Religion And Violence E-Learning} Project

Rebecca Scott, Queen’s University
The Barker Hypothesis and Transdisciplinarity: The Case of Obesity