knowledge in knowledge mobilization: exploring competencies, skills, and the assumed Monica Batac | 6 April 2015 | PC 8003
image: wiertz on Flickr
inspiration emerging ques+ons as graduate student, educator and communicator
what is research? how do we do it? why do we do it? what the heck do we do with it? image: tesschamakkala on Flickr
zoom in to zoom out knowledge mobilization & k* competencies & skills-based education k* competencies & skills
sociology of knowledge
image: ebarney on Flickr
knowledge mobilization “… brings knowledge, people, and
ac,on together to create value.” (Bennet and Bennet 2007, p. 17)
• steeped in the social sciences & humani+es • growing professionaliza+on of this field What about the other disciplines?
image: tesschamakkala on Flickr
four major domains | 1945-2004
Everett Rogers reigns supreme (innovation diffusion; 1962, 1971, 1983)
author co-citation analysis by Estabrooks et al., 2008
Innovation diffusion (management, agriculture, development)
Technology transfer (commercialization, competition, innovation)
Knowledge/research utilization (SS/H; policy)
Evidence-based medicine
image: greeblie on Flickr
fragmenta,on knowledge | research | innovation | evidence
translation | transfer| exchange | mobilization
implementation | diffusion | dissemination
evidence/research-based | utilization and uptake
Graham, Tetroe, and the KT Theories Research Group, 2007
image: tesschamakkala on Flickr
k* “‘Knowledge’… include[s] both explicit (codified, factual) informa+on and tacit understandings of what that informa+on means and how it can be used. Knowledge can be about both content and process, and can be held individually or communally.”
“We need a broader concept that includes all the functions but recognizes their differences.”
Shaxson et al., 2012, p. 2
competencies & skills “Competence probably replaces, albeit at a more sophis+cated level, the concept of skills. That doesn’t necessarily make it easier to understand what competencies are, let alone how they are to be recognised” (Brown and Knight, 1994, p. 27). “Though we may prefer to speak of understanding a comprehensive object or situa+on and of mastering a skill, we do use the two words nearly as synonyms. Actually, we speak equally of grasping a subject or an art” (Polanyi, 1969, p. 126). knowledge, competencies, skills (Winterton, Delamare-‐Le Deist, & Stringfellow, 2006)
image: Pedro Vásquez Colmenares on Flickr
sociology of knowledge
par+cipatory research and cri+cal pedagogy (Paulo Freire, Budd Hall, Henry Giroux) Mikhail Bakh+n’s heterglossia Gerald Delanty “Challenging Knowledge” “Social Science: Beyond Construc+vism and Realism” Michael Polanyi’s take on personal & tacit knowledge Peter Berger & Thomas Luckmann? Stuart Hall? Antonio Gramsci? image: tesschamakkala on Flickr
(shifting) research questions 1. What types of opinions exist regarding priority
competencies and skills for KMb? 2. What positions do knowledge user groups take
regarding priority KMb activities? 3. What connections can be made between competencies
and skills identified by users from a specific discipline, field, profession, or role?
4. In what ways do the prioritized competencies and skills illustrate tensions/issues regarding knowledge?
image: tesschamakkala on Flickr
q-method[ology] Concourse
One-on-one interviews & group interviews/focus groups Q-statements
skills? Q-sort
electronic sort using FlashQ
image: tesschamakkala on Flickr
Reproduced from Shinebourne, 2009, p. 95
data collection
Concourse development Interviews and focus groups experts using snowball sampling
Q-sort
Electronic recruitment blogs, websites, social media
In-person recruitment UK KMb Forum; Edinburgh, Scotland (April 13/14)
Canadian KMb Forum; Montreal, Quebec (May 14/15)
preliminary data One interview so far
Emphasis on context Dedicated roles and responsibilities for KMb Perspectives versus practices
image: tesschamakkala on Flickr
context “I work in a unit where the KTA cycle is its mantra” “It’s important to be flexible within a cycle or framework.” Context specific, project-specific
image: tesschamakkala on Flickr
dedicated roles “I had a dedicated role doing knowledge mobilization work - both research and implementation.” distinction between perspectives and practices “Clinicians and practitioners want to be engaged in it, know that it’s important, and do their best to keep current with research within their field, and perhaps are able to transfer that knowledge to their own end-users. But often, that’s a big struggle.”
image: tesschamakkala on Flickr
her own role [within a team] competencies: people skills | research skills; vague “working off people’s strengths” “A host of competencies”: research, communication, networking
again, emphasis on context
image: tesschamakkala on Flickr
her learning KMb focus for her doctoral work; her colleagues took a KT practitioner course “It’s not only who does it, but how do they do it?... Everyone would say it’s important, but how it plays out in practice is blurry.” “Theoretical knowledge drives how you see the practice [of KMb] … It’s not so easy to tease out one from the other.”
image: tesschamakkala on Flickr
where does that leave me?
image: Tall Chris, Flickr
possible conclusions and redirections 1. Experts will highlight diversity and differences in priority
skills, competencies and activities 2. Inclusion of knowledge, competencies, skills 3. Context and ‘knowledge’ as driving forces
Q-statements to return to viewpoints on skills/competencies/knowledge
Translating research into plain language
It is important to communicate in ways that are applicable and effective to
targeted end-users
image: tesschamakkala on Flickr
questions, comments, or feedback?
image: wiertz on Flickr