Between Normativity and Objectivity: Transdisciplinarity as Situated Intervention

The research mode that has gained prominence under the designation ‘transdisciplinary research’ (TDR) has given rise to a multitude of definitions and critiques. While some posit that this research mode enables the sciences to address the mounting societal expectations to confront and potentially resolve significant societal challenges, others perceive it as a threat to the scientific system, its autonomy, and its objectivity. This paper addresses this ongoing debate surrounding the tension between scientific objectivity and the normatively charged contexts of societal interventions. The objective is to propose a conceptual framework for resolving that tension by reframing TDR as a ‘situated intervention’. This conceptualisation does not imply that interventions are merely locally contingent experiments. Rather, they are situated within sociologically interpreted normative complexities, which become the empirical object of TDR. Consequently, situated interventions are antithetical to the mere application or implementation of scientific knowledge. Instead, they represent a distinct scientific research approach of acquiring and producing knowledge. This conception of TDR is illustrated by the introduction and evaluation of the real-world laboratory (RWL) “Knowledge-creates-politics”, which intervened in policymaking processes concerning the enhancement of citizen participation in Bremen, Germany.