Boundary riding and shaping research spaces

When we talk about boundaries in this chapter, we mean rules, conventions or taken-for-granted assumptions about the way “research is done”, because historically they have served the purposes of the people conducting the research. In our experience, staying within established boundaries, which are often quite heavily guarded, can seem safer than riding or crossing them. There are many examples in research of staying with the boundaries, re-producing the same methodologies and methods. Sometimes this is the most useful sort of researching to be doing. There are times, however, when it is more useful and creative to cross, blur and even ignore the way things have been done before, especially when concerned with a research agenda that seeks change at personal, organisational or societal levels.