Julie Sascia Mewes
Dana Mahr
Hoai Truong
Britta Acksel
Claudia Göbel
The aim of this workshop is to lay the groundwork for more focused knowledge exchange, networking and cooperation on participatory STS and its increasing diversity. It provides a space for joint reflection on how 'participation' is discussed and enacted in various participatory STS methods and methodics, e.g.participatory design, citizen science studies, experimental and interventive methods, col-aborative research, or technology assessment. The workshop consists of four sessions. In session 1, we will jointly map different strands of participatory STS research frequently used in Germany to date, as well as reflect uncommon and marginalised approaches.
Session 2 is dedicated to a facilitated methodographic analysis in smaller teams. It is based on research data that we will ask from participants prior to the conference. The analysis involves reflecting on the performativities of methods-in-practice through 'methodography'. 'Methodography' is a term used to describe various approaches that seek to develop a genre of writing that challenges us to 'understand our method of ethnography [and, for the workshop, also other forms of social enquiry] ethnographically' (Greiffenhagen et al., 2011; Lippert & Mewes, 2021; Mewes & Lippert, 2024). The analysis is supported through an online board visualisation to facilitate joint examination of the worlds that methods perform, how they negotiate and textually represent epistemic authority, and the implicit standards, experiences, and practical considerations that guide them. We suggest focusing on how, when and with what real-life effects the participants' research methods enact and textually represent 'participation' as a shared analytical framework: What is 'participatory' about our participatory research?/ How can 'participation' be traced throughout the research project?/When does participation occur, for whom, and in what form?/How can we, as researchers or involved practitioners, facilitate or prevent participation?
Session 3 brings together the teams’ analyses to facilitate collective reflection and discussion on the current state of participatory STS research, focusing specifically on method practice and its impact on performing participation, as well as research quality.
Session 4 compiles these reflections for a future joint discussion paper, also considering efforts by relevant scholarship and networks (VW-Stiftung, 2025; Downey & Zuiderent-Jerak, 2021; Schroegel et al., 2025, Mewes et al.; 2025).
No. of participants
10-25 (plus case organisers)
Case language
English
Accessbility
The workshop will be held on campus at Ruhr-University Bochum.
References
Downey GL and Zuiderent-Jerak T (eds) (2021) Making & Doing: Activating STS through Knowledge Expression and Travel. The MIT Press. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Greiffenhagen C, Mair M and Sharrock W (2011) From Methodology to Methodography: A Study of Qualitative and Quantitative Reasoning in Practice.Methodological Innovations Online 6(3). 3: 93–107.
Lippert I and Mewes JS (eds) (2021) Methodography of Data Practices in STS’s ethnographic Collaboration and participant observation.Science & Technology Studies.
Mewes JS and Lippert I (2023) Caring for Methods: ‘Care-Ful Method Practice’ through Methodography. In: Lydahl D and Mossfeldt Nickelsen NC (eds) Ethical and Methodological Dilemmas in Social Science Interventions: Careful Engagements in Healthcare, Museums, Design and Beyond. Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 171–186. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44119-6_12
Mewes JS, Mahr D and Scherz C (2025) Partizipative Ansätze in den Science and Technology Studies. Open Science Framework. Available at: https://osf.io/4ty8d_v1 (accessed 17 March 2025).
Schrögel P et al. (2025) Ein Leitfaden für Partizipation in der Forschung. PartWiss. Available at: https://zenodo.org/records/14786253.
VW-Stiftung (2025) Partizipation als Zu-Mutung, http://partizipation-als-zu-mutung.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Positionspapier_public_unterschrieben.pdf