Cross boundaries to find greater relevance
New month, new Methodspace focus! We will continue to explore ways to achieve greater relevance. Sometimes that means going beyond disciplinary boundaries to explore other ways of thinking about and studying the problem at hand. Sometimes we realize that inherent in the problem are human, social, or technological dimensions beyond the scope of our discipline. Key questions to explore include:
How can researchers:
Design studies that draw from more than one discipline or field of study?
Collaborate with researchers in other fields or disciplines, including faculty-student research?
Publish studies that don’t fit within one discipline?
Mentors in Residence for February will help us discover answers to these questions.
Gjoko Muratovski, author of Research for Designers will encourage us to think like designers, and cross disciplines as needed to develop innovative approaches.
Members of Duke Bass Connections will share their successful model and examples of interdisciplinary faculty-student research. Interviews and posts will feature insights from Laura Howes, Director, Ed Balleisen, Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies, faculty and student researchers.
How are we defining terms?
-
Relating to, or making use of several disciplines at once.
-
Coordinating efforts or approaches by involving two or more disciplines.
-
Integrating concepts, frameworks, or approaches of two or more disciplines, fields of study, or professional practice.
-
Research practice that transcends conventional disciplines, sometimes innovating a new field of study.
These definitions suggest a progression towards greater integration of research theories, design approaches, and ideas about the purpose and context of the study. These definitions also suggest a progression in the level of commitment and collaboration by those on the research project.
Let’s take a simplified look at the evolution of the field of gender studies as an example.
Ready to cross the bridge to new ways of thinking?
A multidisciplinary study might involve bringing together scholars from fields such as psychology, sociology, human development, economics, and cultural anthropology to discuss common questions about gender roles. However, these academics use their own theories and research traditions to study these questions through their own respective lenses.
Using a crossdisciplinary option, these scholars might choose to coordinate research projects or write an article together that allows them to compare and contrast findings from their respective inquiries.
For an interdisciplinary study, the group fuses elements from different types of research, including their epistemological and conceptual frameworks, to study the research question in a way that considers the inter-related dynamics of social, psychological, developmental, economic, and cultural factors.
They reach a transdisciplinary point in their scholarship when they form a new field that encompasses elements of other disciplines in a new way. Scholars now conduct research and teach in gender studies programs, within their own departments.
Here is how the University of California explains their journey from multidisciplinary interest to a transdisciplinary department of Gender & Women’s Studies.
Follow to learn more!
What examples do you see in your own academic work? Where can you stretch? This month you might decide that to make your own academic work more relevant, you want to reach beyond the journals you usually read, or you might decide to look for new research partners who bring a different world view to the problems you are studying. Throughout the month you can learn more on Methodspace through video interviews, original posts, open-access and library resources. You can find new posts here, or follow us on Twitter or Linked In.
What do faculty members learn when they guide students in research projects? Three Bass Connections program faculty discuss their experiences.