A central question for a researcher with interactive ambitions is to what extent the research concerned can support development at the same time as distance and a critical attitude are maintained. In this article I will show how the interactive research approach has made it possible to create...

This article is an introduction to the special issue on interactive research. A short presentation is made of the different articles. A background to the growing interest in interactive research is presented, and some differences and similarities with action research are discussed. One section...

Establishing and nurturing contacts are important and time-consuming elements of interactive research. It is usually the researcher who has to establish and nurture collaboration with practitioners – a task that is not normally part of traditional research. A mutual interest in the subject of...

Driving forces behind the occurrence of either paradigm shifts in science, or the development of new orientations within science, are often linked to demands for an increased validity or reliability in knowledge production in science. With this as a starting point, I discuss parallels and...

Against the background of a deep crisis in trade union representation, the authors seek to determine some possible starting points for a renewal of trade unions. The employees’ organisations are seen as actors who have a strategic choice as to which power resources to tap. Though the specific...

Against the background of a deep crisis in trade union representation, the authors seek to determine some possible starting points for a renewal of trade unions. The employees’ organisations are seen as actors who have a strategic choice as to which power resources to tap. Though the specific...

The theme of this article is how we as social scientists can research others through involvement, and develop true knowledge about the other without “othering” them, that is, not objectifying them or making them an instrument in our research, but rather be respectful of the other as a...

The present economic crisis has sparked a new debate in a wider political and academic public about the role of the state in advanced capitalist societies. The paper discusses this issue in a comparative perspective: How have different models of capitalism in Europe coped with major economic and...

Using data from the German case, the paper examines a new form of client firms’ utilization of temporary agency work that is distinctly different from traditional forms responding to production problems. Client firms, particularly from manufacturing, increasingly use temporary agency workers...

This article describes and discusses an interactive research approach, and illustrates this approach by presenting two examples of national change projects. Our aim in presenting these two examples is to demonstrate how interactive research can be conducted in close co-operation with those...