Interdisciplinary Research

The Interdisciplinary Research Process

We cannot plunge into a discussion of best practices for interdisciplinary research without first contemplating the overall nature of the interdisciplinary research process. We urge researchers to be self-conscious and explicit about this research process. Many in the Association for Interdisciplinary Studies have found it useful to approach the subject of interdisciplinary best practices in terms of different ‘steps’ or ‘stages’ in the interdisciplinary research process. It cannot be stressed too much that these steps are iterative. Researchers need not start at the first step, and will often find that they revisit earlier steps or perform multiple steps simultaneously. (In team projects one important form of iteration is when team members present interim results and these are critiqued by other members. This may lead to revisiting earlier steps. Societal partners may in particular revise their expectations as interim results are presented.)

Nevertheless the steps are logically distinct. And one critical strategy for evaluating interdisciplinary research is to ask whether all relevant steps have been performed appropriately. An appreciation of the best practices associated with each step will aid immeasurably in both the performance and evaluation of each step. Special note might be made here of ‘reflection’. Though it appears in the last step below, the interdisciplinarian is urged to be self-conscious throughout both about the interdisciplinary research process itself and about the biases that one might bring to one’s research.

It cannot be stressed too much that the interdisciplinary research process is quite different from disciplinary methodologies. The latter exhibit strong preferences (sometimes exclusive) for particular methods, and even the use of particular tools and techniques. The former exhibits openness to the use of any method, technique, or tool that might illuminate the question under evaluation.

While the interdisciplinary research process is quite different in nature from disciplinary methodologies, it is hoped that it can serve similar roles: to facilitate communication among interdiscipinarians, encouraging quality research, facilitating the assessment of that research, and thus enhancing the reputation of interdisciplinary research within the academy.

We can think broadly of the following steps:

1. Forming a research team (if team research is appropriate). [Note that the important transdisciplinary emphasis on engaging non-academic stakeholders in research is addressed under Interdisciplinary Public Policy Analysis.]

2. Solving communication problems. See Interdisciplinary Communication

3. Identifying a good research question.

4. Identifying and Evaluating Disciplinary Insights.

5. Mapping Interdisciplinary Connections

6. Performing Mixed Methods Research.

7. Integrating Insights from different disciplines.

8. Reflecting, Testing and Communicating Research Results

We can add an external (that is, performed by others) ninth step: Assessing Interdisciplinary Research.

Each of these is associated with certain best practices. Details of many of these and examples of their use can be found in Allen Repko's Interdisciplinary Research: Process and Theory Sage, 2nd ed., 2012. Sustained applications of several of these steps can be found in Repko, Allen, William H. Newell, and Rick Szostak (2012) Case Studies in Interdisciplinary Research. Thousand Oaks: Sage. See also P. Sven Arvidson “Between Phenomenology and Psychology: The Interdisciplinarity of Aron Gurwitsch,”Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 2014, 45 (2),which also follows the several steps outlined in Repko but with emphasis on justifying an interdisciplinary approach, identifying conflicts, finding common ground, and developing a comprehensive understanding.

Bergmann, Matthias , Thomas Jahn, Tobias Knobloch, Wolfgang Krohn, Christian Pohl, Engelbert Schramm (2012) Methods for Transdisciplinary Research: A Primer for Practice. Berlin: Campus also identifies a host of best practices for interdisciplinary research. While each is discussed in the context of particular case studies, the authors emphasize that each has more general applicability, and thus also provide a general description of each. Most of these are discussed when particular steps are addressed here. Bergmann discusses some of the insights from this book in a blog post on the I2S website at: https://i2insights.org/2017/05/09/transdisciplinary-integration-methods/

Rick Szostak, "The state of the field: Interdisciplinary research," Issues in Interdisciplinary Studies 31 (2013), 44-65, discusses the state of understanding (and future research directions) regarding each of the steps outlined above. He also addresses the concerns that some scholars have voiced about such a research process.

Pietro DeSantis, professor of Engineering at The University of Rome 2, has diagrammed much of the process outlined in the Repko text, as well as the work of Gabriele Bammer. The diagrams are available under Diagrams of the Interdisciplinary Research Process

Rebekah Brown, Ana Deletic, and Tony Wong, describe the factors that contributed to success at Monash University's interdisciplinary center for water research in Nature. See: http://www.nature.com/news/interdisciplinarity-how-to-catalyse-collaboration-1.18343

Note that the many institutional barriers to interdisciplinary research, and how these can be transcended, are discussed in Interdisciplinary Administration