Description
Book SynopsisWe are increasingly realizing that, as a result of technological developments and globalization, problems are becoming so complex that they can only be solved through cooperation between scientists from different disciplines. Healthcare, climate change, food security, globalization, and quality of life are just a few examples of issues that require scientists to work across disciplines. In many cases, extra-academic stakeholders must be involved in order to arrive at robust solutions. Young academics are being called on to step beyond the boundaries of traditional disciplines to contribute to addressing fundamental, often societal problems. As a result of these developments, an interdisciplinary approach is becoming increasingly necessary and popular in higher education. Students need to learn more about how to integrate and apply knowledge, methods, and skills from different fields. The crucial step of integration within interdisciplinary research is treated extensively in this textbook, which contains a comprehensive ‘interdisciplinary integration toolbox’. In addition, students must learn to collaborate in teams. An Introduction to Interdisciplinary Research serves as a systematic manual to guide students through this interdisciplinary research process.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements
Preface
Chapter guides
Part 1 The Handbook – ‘The What’
1 Introduction
2 What is science? A brief philosophy of science
2.1 What is science?
2.2 Moving through the Science Cycle
3 The disciplines
3.1 Academic disciplines: A brief history
3.2 Our definition of a discipline
3.3 Classification of academic disciplines
4 Interdisciplinarity
5 Complexity: the main driving force behind interdisciplinarity
5.1 Complex (adaptive) systems
5.2 Complexity broken down into drivers of interdisciplinarity
6 Interdisciplinary integration
6.1 Communication as a first step to integration
6.2 Integration techniques
Part 2 The Manual – ‘The How’
7 The interdisciplinary research process
7.1 The IIS model of interdisciplinary research
7.2 Planning your research project
8 The problem
Step 1 Identify problem or topic
Step 2 Formulate preliminary research question
9 Theoretical framework and research question
Step 3 Develop theoretical framework
Step 4 Finalize research question
Step 5 Formulate sub-questions
10 How to collect and analyze your data
Step 6 Develop research methods and design
Step 7 Data collection and analysis
11 Discussion and conclusion(s)
Step 8 Interpret results, discuss research & draw conclusion(s)
Part 3 Interdisciplinary research in practice
12 Interdisciplinary research example: fogponics
Step 1 Identify problem or topic
Step 2 Formulate preliminary research question
Step 3 Develop theoretical framework
Step 4 Finalize research question
Step 5 Formulate sub-questions
Step 6 Develop research methods and design
Step 7 Data collection and analysis
Step 8 Interpret results, discuss research & draw conclusion(s)
13 Interdisciplinary careers
Further reading
References
References Research projects undertaken by IIS students
