Strategic directions in research : trials, tribulation, and successes in linking research and change

Abstract

Research in the area of Environmental Health relies on a wide variety of disciplines. In order to effect meaningful change it must find ways to harness the findings of multidisciplinary science, and then use these findings to manage interactions within complex natural and man-made systems. This involves a broad conception of research that goes beyond the empiricist paradigm and has traditionally faced difficulty attracting prestige, international reputability and National Government / International funding. This paper reports on an instrumental case study of an environmental health research centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (The EHRC). The EHRC was chosen as an exemplary case in that it is a research centre that has struggled with the issue of legitimization of diversified research approaches with an explicit agenda to drive change, and has in fact, successfully used an action research approach to develop a research framework for the Centre that legitimizes its agenda and multidisciplinary focus. The framework helps situate a broad range of appropriate methodologies; and allows for active engagement in the change process. The centre has been successful in not only articulating this paradigmatic shift, but in getting government and industry support for new approaches that link research and change. The implications of this case study can be seen as liberating for research centers in applied science areas that value a range of research traditions: from the quantitative to qualitative; from laboratory to community based approaches; from the production of knowledge to implementation of change