Critical inquiry and knowledge translation: exploring compatibilities and tensions.

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Social Sciences in Health

Background:

• Knowledge translation (KT) facilitates research uptake in healthcare.
• Critically oriented knowledge addresses social justice, health inequities, and cultural safety.
• Integrating these critical perspectives into clinical practice presents unique challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To philosophically examine knowledge translation as a vehicle for critically oriented knowledge.
• To identify compatibilities and discrepancies between critical inquiry and knowledge translation.
• To reconceptualize knowledge translation through the lens of critical perspectives.

Main Methods:

• Philosophical examination of knowledge translation and critical inquiry traditions.
• Analysis of ontological and epistemological origins of knowledge.
• Review of the history of critical inquiry to identify common purposes.

Main Results:

• Reconciling differences within critical traditions is necessary for synthesizing knowledge.
• The critical stance of critique can be problematic in collaborative knowledge translation.
• There is a persistent pull towards positivist paradigms within knowledge translation.

Conclusions:

• Knowledge translation can be a vehicle for critical knowledge, but requires careful navigation of epistemological and methodological tensions.
• Understanding the origins of knowledge is crucial for effective synthesis and translation.
• Productive tensions arise when integrating critical inquiry with knowledge translation, leading to reconceptualization.