OpenHeritage Glossary

Transferability

Transferability refers to the process of using insights from a particular case to understand other cases or to apply this knowledge in other settings. The challenge of transferability relates particularly to complex situations that are“ill-defined”given a great number of influencing factors and non-linear relationships among these factors. This is typically the case in any real-world social situation. Under such circumstances, any attempts at transferability require a close understanding of the specific contexts from where insights are learned and to where they are to be applied. It requires expertise to identify the key elements in each situation in order to draw analogies (given similarities) as the basis for transferring theoretical or applied knowledge.

Relevance

- where and how is the term relevant in the OpenHeritage?

The key innovation of this project with respect to transferability is to engage the topic of adaptive re-use of cultural heritage and to consider what kind of lessons can be learned from case studies and how we might transfer these insights to support an interested audience to better understand or to inspire them for a better practice in other cases.  

Key discussions around the term

- differentiated by field or discipline

Transferability is a key term in transdisciplinary science discussion that applies to fields that engage in empirical research (sociology, psychology etc.) and that are in relation to fields that apply knowledge (social work, engineering etc.).

As Wolfgang Krohn (2008: 369) approaches the problem a broadly accepted view on science holds that findings and insights from case studies are scientific to the extent that they are generalizable and may also help to explain or even predict similar phenomena elsewhere. From this perspective thus, “the less circumstantial and conditional an achieved piece of empirical knowledge is, the higher its scientific value“ (Krohn 2008: 369). This would then allow for a causal analysis in which the relationship between an independent and dependent variable could be formulated. Case studies in transdisciplinary projects such as at OpenHeritage, however, are highly circumstancial and conditional, given their historically and geographically specific sites, problems and responses and a distinct set of actors involved. However, any attempt to generate generalized knowledge from case studies, requires such a degree of abstraction that the knowledge would hardly be of any use to the people involved in that case studies. In order to apply knowledge, concrete situations and conditions would need to be taken serious. Krohn (2008: 369) refers to this difference as “idiosyncratic and nomothetic knowledge structures”. “Nomothetic” refers to the endeavor to find general laws that can be abstracted from the concrete, while “ideographic” means paying particular attention to the concrete and its singularity. Heinrich Rickert (1924 in Krohn: 371) also distinguishes these two kinds of research interests by the degree in which values are attached to the objects. It is true: The OpenHeritage projects are not driven primarily by scientific interests but by values that the actors attach to an object and place. Or as Higgs describes such motivation to become engaged “By investing labor one becomes part of that place” (Higgs 2003: in Krohn 372).

Reference list (max. 10 books or journal articles)

-      Krohn, Wolfgang (2008). “Learning from Case Studies”

-      Trochim, W. M. K. (2006). “The Qualitative Debate. Research Methods Knowledge Base.” Research Methods Knowledge Base, Web Center for Social Research Methods.  http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/qualval.php. Accessed 25, Feb 2020.

-      Trochim, W.M.K. (2006) “Types of Reliability. Research Methods Knowledge Base.” Research Methods Knowledge Base, Web Center for Social Research Methods. http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/reltypes.php. Accessed 25, Feb 2020.

-      Writing@CSU (2013) “Generalizability and Transferability” Accessed 24, Feb 2020.

Related terms in different language (Briefly explain the differences in meaning)