Suggests that, by looking for commonalities and differences across settings, tasks, working methods, goals, and values, a framework for understanding collaboration can be constructed that preserves the benefits of rich descriptive accounts of collaboration. Emphasizes the importance of multiple definitions and multiple models of collaborative…

Discusses ways in which the dialectic between differing approaches to studying, theorizing, and representing collaboration may illuminate issues related to the nature and scope of scholarly inquiry. Contains 15 references. (Author/SLD)