Interprofessional research:
a complex process
Dr Katherine Pollard
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
Interprofessional research:
the wider context
• Interprofessional research does not occur in a
vacuum
• Influenced by:
– wider social and political agendas;
– professional and occupational perspectives
and priorities;
– interpersonal and individual issues
Interprofessional research:
the wider context
Social
Professional
Interpersonal
Individual
Occupational
Political
Research issues
• Choice of methods
• Definition of terms and/or concepts
• Researcher reflexivity
• Consider a focus on power issues
What is interprofessional research?
• Research exploring interprofessional learning
or working, which can be conducted from a
uniprofessional perspective
• Research conducted by an interprofessional
research team
• Research involving the public (e.g. service
users or carers) as team members
Choice of methods
• Most useful – longitudinal multi-method projects
• Depend on funding and other resources
• Choose a method which will allow exploration of
complexity
• Research question is the primary factor affecting
the choice of methods
• How can the public voice contribute to the
research question?
Definition of terms
and/or concepts
• Who is what?
• Whose knowledge or perspective should
be privileged?
• Public involvement
Researcher reflexivity
• Sole researcher /uniprofessional research
team
• Interprofessional research team
• Team whose membership includes
members of the public
Consideration of
power differentials
• Problems related to power and status
differentials persist
• Need to continue to investigate and to
highlight underlying issues
• Need to select research methods that
support such investigation
How complexity can enhance the
process of interprofessional research
• Can give researchers an opportunity to exercise
comprehensive researcher reflexivity
• Can allow researchers to gain greater
understanding of salient issues
• Can significantly increase understanding of
causes underlying outcomes of interprofessional initiatives
Conclusions
• Complexity is an inherent component of
interprofessional research
• Choose research methods that facilitate
understanding of this complexity
• Use opportunities within an ip team to explore
your own and others’ perspective, priorities and
positions
• Embrace complexity!