To study people, subject matter, and their context
in meaningful ways, Collins (2004) argues, researchers
need to acquire "interactional expertise,"
the kind of knowledge required for one to communicate
about a domain without necessarily being
able to practice in that domain (see also Collins &
Evans, 2007). Researchers who have honed their
interactional expertise know how to relate to specialists
(be they scientists, rowers, or risk analysts)
in ways that engage them in sharing what they
know, its technical content, and what is going on in
the setting. This involvement provides researchers
not only access to, but also an appreciation of,
specialists' views, activities, and interests. Bruns
(2013) provides a nice example of developing interactional
expertise in her work: She studied cancer
biology lab practices for 6 months before starting
her 18-month ethnographic field study of 12
cancer research projects, pointing out that direct
work exposure is important for understanding how
scientists apply specialized knowledge from other
disciplines.