David McDonald
David McDonald BA, DipSocWk, MA, GradDipPoplnHlth is a social scientist with research interests including dialogue, knowledge integration and building evidence-based public policy. He has wide experience in research & evaluation, policy analysis and policy & program development, particularly in the alcohol and other drugs, criminal justice and related fields.
David is a Visiting Fellow at ANU National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health and the Director of the Canberra-based consultancy Social Research & Evaluation Pty Ltd. Earlier positions he has held include Senior Criminologist at the Australian Institute of Criminology, and Deputy Head of Research at the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
Research Integration Using Dialogue Methods »
Authored by: David McDonald, Gabriele Bammer, Peter Deane
Publication date: August 2009
Research on real-world problems—like restoration of wetlands, the needs of the elderly, effective disaster response and the future of the airline industry—requires expert knowledge from a range of disciplines, as well as from stakeholders affected by the problem and those in a position to do something about it. This book charts new territory in taking a systematic approach to research integration using dialogue methods to bring together multiple perspectives. It links specific dialogue methods to particular research integration tasks.
Fourteen dialogue methods for research integration are classified into two groups:
Dialogue methods for understanding a problem broadly: integrating judgements
Dialogue methods for understanding particular aspects of a problem: integrating visions, world views, interests and values.
The methods are illustrated by case studies from four research areas: the environment, public health, security and technological innovation.