Transdisciplinary research is issue-driven, addressing contemporary social questions from a range of critical theoretical perspectives unhampered by the theoretical and methodological restrictions of traditional disciplinary boundaries. In this brief, informative guide, Patricia Leavy shows how a transdisciplinary approach can produce more effective results for researchers hoping to ameliorate social problems and foster social justice. Leavy demonstrates the value of transdisciplinary approaches in mixed methods design, and how trans approaches actually help fulfill the promises and goals of mixed methods research. She explains its relationship to multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary research and its value in community-based and arts-based research projects. Providing the key principles and methods needed to conduct a transdisciplinary study, Leavy also offers numerous examples from multiple research sectors to show its effectiveness. Ideal as a brief introductory text for students engaged in this style of research.
About the Author: Patricia Leavy is an associate professor, former chairperson of the Sociology & Criminology Department, and the founding director of the Gender Studies Program at Stonehill College in Easton, MA. She is the author of Iconic Events: Media, Politics, and Power in Retelling History (2007), Method Meets Art: Arts-Based Research Practice (2009), Oral History: Understanding Qualitative Research (2011), and Low-Fat Love (2011); coauthor of Feminist Research Practice: A Primer (2007) and The Practice of Qualitative Research (2d ed. 2010); and co-editor of Hybrid Identities: Theoretical and Empirical Examinations (2008), Handbook of Emergent Methods (2008), Emergent Methods in Social Research (2006), and Approaches to Qualitative Research: A Reader on Theory and Practice (2004). She is also the editor of the Oxford University Press book series Understanding Qualitative Research, and series editor for the Sense Publishers book series Social Fictions. She has served on the New England Sociological Association's executive council and was president in 2009. Leavy has also authored numerous articles on methodology, body image, collective memory, and mass media. She is regularly quoted in newspapers for her expertise on popular culture and gender and has appeared on CNN's Glenn Beck Show and Lou Dobbs Tonight. Leavy was named the New England Sociologist of the Year 2010 by the New England Sociological Association.