Boundaries and brokerage in a research/practice collaboration : exploring intermediary roles in context

Through an ethnographic study of intermediary roles-in-context, this thesis makes an original contribution to the understanding of these roles as translational interventions. In English health services research, the second ‘gap’ in translation references a disjuncture between new modes of practice in theory, and the enactment of these in practice. There are different understandings of the problem. ‘One-way’ understandings assume difficulties associated with transferring knowledge into practice. Relational understandings suggest the problem is complex, and that the usual processes by which research is produced are problematic. These posit that co-productive and collaborative forms of research production can assist translation. Either way, the intermediary role is thought to have value as a translational aid. Such roles are known to be context- dependent. Their ‘successful’ enactment is contingent upon understandings of the broader translational problem. The experience of enacting intermediary roles has been little documented and is under-theorised. With recourse to Bourdieusian and other social theory, I found that pre-existing power relationships, modes of practice, perceptions of the translational problem, ontological positions, and ‘fields’ were reproduced and bolstered by macro-level socio-political constraints. These formed boundaries that inhibited the realisation of a new collaborative way of working and impacted on the roles. The actors had little capital that could be mobilised to enhance their roles’ potential as translational interventions. I emphasise the importance of understanding the social fields in which such roles might be deployed in order to endow them with appropriate and sufficient capital to be able to be effective in knowledge translation. I make a case for greater account to be taken of social theory in translational research. I question the degree to which the experimental research paradigm can add to KT understandings, arguing instead that this is a context in which the value of qualitative research should be more widely recognised.