Interdisciplinarity

Academic disciplines specialize in studying different types of phenomena and problems. In addition, they tend to create and employ different concepts, theories, and methodologies to produce knowledge. Often, when problems arise, they do not readily fit within one discipline, and insights are gained from the collaboration of scholars across different disciplines, allowing the perspectives offered by each to be integrated. The purpose of interdisciplinary studies is to examine problems by integrating the perspectives of several disciplines in ways that may enable the production of more comprehensive understandings and to create more innovative solutions. While disciplinary inquiry may contribute more depth to knowledge, interdisciplinary inquiry may contribute more breadth.

Overview

Disciplinary perspectives tend to introduce biases into their study of a phenomenon, for example, when reframing the phenomenon so it may be approached with the theoretical and methodological tools associated with a discipline. Furthermore, the increasing specialization within disciplines tends to enable the production of highly specialized knowledge that lacks breadth and, hence, limits applicability. The purpose of interdisciplinary research is to provide more breadth to inquiry, thereby improving applicability. The process of interdisciplinary research consists of: (1) identifying the issue to be studied; (2) examining the different perspectives offered by different disciplines; (3) drawing insights from different disciplines; (4) creating common grounds between the generated insights that conflict; (5) constructing a more comprehensive understanding of the problem through integration, and; (6) creating innovative solutions to the problem.

Studies that are interdisciplinary can be differentiated from studies that are multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary. In multidisciplinary studies, disciplines have separate nonintegrated contributions. For example, in the study of nursing, students learn both about physiology and about the ethics of care, but they do so separately. In contrast, interdisciplinary studies is based on the integration of concepts from different disciplines. For example, a concept from film studies is integrated with educational concepts to examine an educational problem from a new perspective, or a concept from economics is integrated with biological concepts to examine health problems. In transdisciplinary studies, the focus is on creating total systems of knowledge or new theories about a set of objects or subjects in the world by synthesizing theories from different disciplines. In interdisciplinary studies, the focus is on the problem, rather than on the discipline. In interdisciplinary studies, the research is grounded in a well-defined problem and focused on creating more comprehensive knowledge of the problem in question.

Interdisciplinary studies are often critiqued and described as unable to produce the theoretical knowledge produced by disciplines. Interdisciplinary scholars argue that interdisciplinary inquiry can contribute both depth and breadth: depth through feedback to disciplines and the contribution of new research questions; breadth through integrating insights from different disciplines and contributing substantively. Interdisciplinary inquiry bridges the gap between disciplines traditionally seen as completely separate, such as the gap between art and science. For example, Jonah Lehrer suggested that while science dissects the brain, art puts it back together and, therefore, both make necessary contributions to a comprehensive understanding of the brain and its activity. A number of examples exist of research that can only be approached from an interdisciplinary perspective. As one example, examining the long-term effects of childhood poverty on adult health and well-being requires concepts from economy, human development, and public health. As another example, crime in Washington, DC, is a problem that is cultural, economic, and racial and, hence, requires economists and cultural scholars to integrate their insights in order to build a comprehensive understanding.

Bibliography

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