A comparative ethnographic study of collective knowledge brokering across the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic knowledge boundaries in applied health research

Background Knowledge brokers facilitate the creation, sharing and use of knowledge among different research, policy practice communities. This paper examines way collective brokering can address syntactic, semantic pragmatic boundaries that separate research Methods A comparative ethnographic study three applied health projects, each researching implementation clinical interventions into healthcare practice. Data was collected through in-depth non-participant observations, semi-structured interviews documentary analysis with project team associated stakeholder Findings The describes how ‘core’ teams ‘peripheral’ groups be differentiated as relatively bounded epistemic It also identifies both ‘designated’ ‘non-designated’ working within between these Through comparing life cycles individual activities involved in Discussion reaffirms idea it is challenging for a single broker to undertake all tasks, achieved sequential parallel forms brokering. Furthermore, strategies are needed proposes maturity model