Transdisciplinarity for human information interaction and retrieval: Strategies for collaborating across research disciplines to foster societal impact

Researchers are increasingly encouraged to undertake collaborative research that stretches beyond their home discipline, and engages community, industry, and government stakeholders. This transdisciplinary research approach explores complex societal challenges, requiring researchers to navigate knowledge and organizational boundaries, including how best to integrate qualitative, quantitative, experimental, and textual methodologies. Transdisciplinary researchers must also engage effectively with external stakeholders, who bring a wealth of professional expertise to study designs and implementation, but typically lack formal research training and are unfamiliar with many research processes. This tutorial will explore how researchers in human information interaction and retrieval can work effectively across transdisciplinary boundaries. This tutorial introduces human information interaction and retrieval researchers to the powerful insights that can be gained by working effectively across research paradigms, including involving qualitative social scientists and humanities scholars in human-focused research design. The session also examines how to navigate these research designs with external partners, particularly those with limited research experience.