Dynamic Research Design: Iteration in Field-Based Inquiry

This article examines how “iteration”—the dynamic updating of a research design in the course of conducting a study—contributes to making fieldwork a powerful form of inquiry. Considering epistemic disagreement on the utility and acceptability of iteration and drawing on published work, our own experiences, and an original survey and interviews, we contend that iteration is a core aspect of field-based inquiry because such work often examines areas for which theory or empirical knowledge is underdeveloped and requires reacting as the research environment evolves. We demonstrate why iteration is challenging, consider the analytic risks it poses, and offer a framework to help scholars iterate in analytically productive ways. We conclude by outlining the implications for the discipline of embracing and being transparent about iteration.

Computational Catalysis—Trends and Outlook

Computational catalysis has been one of the most dynamic research fields over the last decade, and it now represents a critical tool for the analysis of chemical mechanisms and active sites [...]

Designing Dynamic Research Contests

This paper studies the optimal design of dynamic research contests. We introduce interim transfers, which are paid in every period while the contest is ongoing, to an otherwise standard setting. We show that a contest where (i) the principal can stop the contest in any period, (ii) a constant interim transfer is paid to agents in each period while the contest is ongoing, and (iii) a final prize is paid once the principal stops the contest, is optimal for the principal and implements the first-best. (JEL D82, O32)

“I Look at You and See You Looking at Me”: Role Boundaries in a Dynamic Research Relationship in Qualitative Health Research With Refugees

In institutional ethical and deontological guidelines, there is a prevailing, static understanding of the research partnership, with a clear boundary between researcher and participant. In this article, we argue that such a static understanding may run the risk of impeding the development of an enhanced contextual and dynamic intersubjective understanding of the research partnership and its impact on the growing importance of role boundaries in qualitative research. Drawing from a refugee health study on trauma and forced migration, we explore the different ways in which participants and the researcher engaged with the researcher’s multiple positions and role boundaries. In doing so, we aim to contribute to a reflective research practice by providing tools to recognize signs of potential harm and offer potential vehicles of reconstruction and agency within the intersubjective space of a dynamic research relationship, within a continuous, shared renegotiation process of role boundaries.