Method against method: swarm and interdisciplinary research methodology

Abstract

Part of a special issue on ‘swarm methodology,’ this paper, written by a swarm participant, reflects upon the purpose and value of this kind of interdisciplinary research methodology. First, by way of a recognition of the interdisciplinary status of this paper itself, the question of what we hope to accomplish when we engage in conversations across disciplinary boundaries is broached. Second, a discussion of the practice of peer-review provides an approximate view of one paradigmatic understanding of how we produce a ‘conversation’ within a given established research methodology. We are then, third, able to consider a number of possible related ways in which we might understand the value of a conversation between research methodologies. Finally, the common intuition that there is a concrete value specifically within a ‘holistic’ or ‘synergistic approach’ is addressed, and the swarm methodology put forth as a likely place for such a value to emerge, if it is to emerge anywhere.