Author: Lisa R. Lattuca
Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press
ISBN: 9780826513830
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 310
Book Description
Interdisciplinarity, a favorite buzzword of faculty and administrators, has been appropriated to describe so many academic pursuits that it is virtually meaningless. With a writing style that is accessible, fluid, and engaging, Lisa Lattuca remedies this confusion with an original conceptualization of interdisciplinarity based on interviews with faculty who are engaged in its practice. Whether exploring the connections between apparently related disciplines, such as English and women's studies, or such seemingly disparate fields as economics and theology, Lattuca moves away from previous definitions based on the degrees of integration across disciplines and instead focuses on the nature of the inquiry behind the work. She organizes her findings around the processes through which faculty pursue interdisciplinarity, the contexts (institutional, departmental, and disciplinary) in which faculty are working, and the ways in which those contexts relate to and affect the interdisciplinary work. Her findings result in useful suggestions for individuals concerned with the meaning of faculty work, the role and impact of disciplines in academe today, and the kinds of issues that should guide the evaluation of faculty scholarship.
Creating Interdisciplinarity
Author: Lisa R. Lattuca
Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press
ISBN: 9780826513830
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 310
Book Description
Interdisciplinarity, a favorite buzzword of faculty and administrators, has been appropriated to describe so many academic pursuits that it is virtually meaningless. With a writing style that is accessible, fluid, and engaging, Lisa Lattuca remedies this confusion with an original conceptualization of interdisciplinarity based on interviews with faculty who are engaged in its practice. Whether exploring the connections between apparently related disciplines, such as English and women's studies, or such seemingly disparate fields as economics and theology, Lattuca moves away from previous definitions based on the degrees of integration across disciplines and instead focuses on the nature of the inquiry behind the work. She organizes her findings around the processes through which faculty pursue interdisciplinarity, the contexts (institutional, departmental, and disciplinary) in which faculty are working, and the ways in which those contexts relate to and affect the interdisciplinary work. Her findings result in useful suggestions for individuals concerned with the meaning of faculty work, the role and impact of disciplines in academe today, and the kinds of issues that should guide the evaluation of faculty scholarship.
Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press
ISBN: 9780826513830
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 310
Book Description
Interdisciplinarity, a favorite buzzword of faculty and administrators, has been appropriated to describe so many academic pursuits that it is virtually meaningless. With a writing style that is accessible, fluid, and engaging, Lisa Lattuca remedies this confusion with an original conceptualization of interdisciplinarity based on interviews with faculty who are engaged in its practice. Whether exploring the connections between apparently related disciplines, such as English and women's studies, or such seemingly disparate fields as economics and theology, Lattuca moves away from previous definitions based on the degrees of integration across disciplines and instead focuses on the nature of the inquiry behind the work. She organizes her findings around the processes through which faculty pursue interdisciplinarity, the contexts (institutional, departmental, and disciplinary) in which faculty are working, and the ways in which those contexts relate to and affect the interdisciplinary work. Her findings result in useful suggestions for individuals concerned with the meaning of faculty work, the role and impact of disciplines in academe today, and the kinds of issues that should guide the evaluation of faculty scholarship.
Interdisciplinarity in the Making
Author: Nancy J. Nersessian
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262544660
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 393
Book Description
A cognitive ethnography of how bioengineering scientists create innovative modeling methods. In this first full-scale, long-term cognitive ethnography by a philosopher of science, Nancy J. Nersessian offers an account of how scientists at the interdisciplinary frontiers of bioengineering create novel problem-solving methods. Bioengineering scientists model complex dynamical biological systems using concepts, methods, materials, and other resources drawn primarily from engineering. They aim to understand these systems sufficiently to control or intervene in them. What Nersessian examines here is how cutting-edge bioengineering scientists integrate the cognitive, social, material, and cultural dimensions of practice. Her findings and conclusions have broad implications for researchers in philosophy, science studies, cognitive science, and interdisciplinary studies, as well as scientists, educators, policy makers, and funding agencies. In studying the epistemic practices of scientists, Nersessian pushes the boundaries of the philosophy of science and cognitive science into areas not ventured before. She recounts a decades-long, wide-ranging, and richly detailed investigation of the innovative interdisciplinary modeling practices of bioengineering researchers in four university laboratories. She argues and demonstrates that the methods of cognitive ethnography and qualitative data analysis, placed in the framework of distributed cognition, provide the tools for a philosophical analysis of how scientific discoveries arise from complex systems in which the cognitive, social, material, and cultural dimensions of problem-solving are integrated into the epistemic practices of scientists. Specifically, she looks at how interdisciplinary environments shape problem-solving. Although Nersessian’s case material is drawn from the bioengineering sciences, her analytic framework and methodological approach are directly applicable to scientific research in a broader, more general sense, as well.
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262544660
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 393
Book Description
A cognitive ethnography of how bioengineering scientists create innovative modeling methods. In this first full-scale, long-term cognitive ethnography by a philosopher of science, Nancy J. Nersessian offers an account of how scientists at the interdisciplinary frontiers of bioengineering create novel problem-solving methods. Bioengineering scientists model complex dynamical biological systems using concepts, methods, materials, and other resources drawn primarily from engineering. They aim to understand these systems sufficiently to control or intervene in them. What Nersessian examines here is how cutting-edge bioengineering scientists integrate the cognitive, social, material, and cultural dimensions of practice. Her findings and conclusions have broad implications for researchers in philosophy, science studies, cognitive science, and interdisciplinary studies, as well as scientists, educators, policy makers, and funding agencies. In studying the epistemic practices of scientists, Nersessian pushes the boundaries of the philosophy of science and cognitive science into areas not ventured before. She recounts a decades-long, wide-ranging, and richly detailed investigation of the innovative interdisciplinary modeling practices of bioengineering researchers in four university laboratories. She argues and demonstrates that the methods of cognitive ethnography and qualitative data analysis, placed in the framework of distributed cognition, provide the tools for a philosophical analysis of how scientific discoveries arise from complex systems in which the cognitive, social, material, and cultural dimensions of problem-solving are integrated into the epistemic practices of scientists. Specifically, she looks at how interdisciplinary environments shape problem-solving. Although Nersessian’s case material is drawn from the bioengineering sciences, her analytic framework and methodological approach are directly applicable to scientific research in a broader, more general sense, as well.
Creating Interdisciplinary Campus Cultures
Author: Julie Thompson Klein
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470550899
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 244
Book Description
Praise for Creating Interdisciplinary Campus Cultures "Klein's analysis shows convincingly that from research in the sciences to new graduate-level programs and departments, to new designs for general education, interdisciplinarity is now prevalent throughout American colleges and universities. . . . Klein documents trends, traces historical patterns and precedents, and provides practical advice. Going directly to the heart of our institutional realities, she focuses attention on some of the more challenging aspects of bringing together ambitious goals for interdisciplinary vitality with institutional, budgetary, and governance systems. A singular strength of this book, then, is the practical advice it provides about such nitty-gritty issues as program review, faculty development, tenure and promotion, hiring, and the political economy of interdisciplinarity. . . . We know that readers everywhere will find [this book] simultaneously richly illuminating and intensively useful." from the foreword by Carol Geary Schneider, president, Association of American Colleges and Universities "Klein reveals how universities can move beyond glib rhetoric about being interdisciplinary toward pervasive full interdisciplinarity. Institutions that heed her call for restructured intellectual environments are most likely to thrive in the new millennium." William H. Newell, professor, Interdisciplinary Studies, Miami University, and executive director, Association for Integrative Studies "In true interdisciplinary fashion, Julie Klein integrates a tremendous amount of material into this book to tell the story of interdisciplinarity across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. And she does so both from the theoretical perspective of 'understanding' interdisciplinarity and from the practical vantage of 'doing' interdisciplinarity. This book is a must-read for faculty and administrators thinking about how to maximize the opportunities and minimize the challenges of interdisciplinary programming on their campuses." Diana Rhoten, director, Knowledge Institutions Program, and director, Digital Media and Learning Project, Social Science Research Counsel
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470550899
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 244
Book Description
Praise for Creating Interdisciplinary Campus Cultures "Klein's analysis shows convincingly that from research in the sciences to new graduate-level programs and departments, to new designs for general education, interdisciplinarity is now prevalent throughout American colleges and universities. . . . Klein documents trends, traces historical patterns and precedents, and provides practical advice. Going directly to the heart of our institutional realities, she focuses attention on some of the more challenging aspects of bringing together ambitious goals for interdisciplinary vitality with institutional, budgetary, and governance systems. A singular strength of this book, then, is the practical advice it provides about such nitty-gritty issues as program review, faculty development, tenure and promotion, hiring, and the political economy of interdisciplinarity. . . . We know that readers everywhere will find [this book] simultaneously richly illuminating and intensively useful." from the foreword by Carol Geary Schneider, president, Association of American Colleges and Universities "Klein reveals how universities can move beyond glib rhetoric about being interdisciplinary toward pervasive full interdisciplinarity. Institutions that heed her call for restructured intellectual environments are most likely to thrive in the new millennium." William H. Newell, professor, Interdisciplinary Studies, Miami University, and executive director, Association for Integrative Studies "In true interdisciplinary fashion, Julie Klein integrates a tremendous amount of material into this book to tell the story of interdisciplinarity across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. And she does so both from the theoretical perspective of 'understanding' interdisciplinarity and from the practical vantage of 'doing' interdisciplinarity. This book is a must-read for faculty and administrators thinking about how to maximize the opportunities and minimize the challenges of interdisciplinary programming on their campuses." Diana Rhoten, director, Knowledge Institutions Program, and director, Digital Media and Learning Project, Social Science Research Counsel
Crossing Borders, Making Connections
Author: Allison Burkette
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 1501514393
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 323
Book Description
This edited volume explores the scope of interdisciplinary linguistics and includes voices from scholars in different disciplines within the social sciences and humanities, as well as different sub-disciplines within linguistics. Chapters within this volume offer a range of perspectives on interdisciplinary studies, represent a connection between different disciplines, or demonstrate an application of interdisciplinarity within linguistics. The volume is divided into three sections: perspectives, connections, and applications. Perspectives The goal of this section is to address more generally the definition(s) of and value of multi-, trans-, and inter-disciplinary work. In what areas and for what purposes is there a need for work that crosses discipline boundaries? What are the challenges of undertaking such work? What opportunities are available? Connections This section features paired chapters written by scholars in different disciplines that discuss the same concept/idea/issue. For example, a discussion of how "assemblage" works in archaeology is paired with a discussion of how "assemblage" can be used to talk about ‘style’ in linguistics. Applications This section can be framed as sample answers to the question: What does interdisciplinarity look like?
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 1501514393
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 323
Book Description
This edited volume explores the scope of interdisciplinary linguistics and includes voices from scholars in different disciplines within the social sciences and humanities, as well as different sub-disciplines within linguistics. Chapters within this volume offer a range of perspectives on interdisciplinary studies, represent a connection between different disciplines, or demonstrate an application of interdisciplinarity within linguistics. The volume is divided into three sections: perspectives, connections, and applications. Perspectives The goal of this section is to address more generally the definition(s) of and value of multi-, trans-, and inter-disciplinary work. In what areas and for what purposes is there a need for work that crosses discipline boundaries? What are the challenges of undertaking such work? What opportunities are available? Connections This section features paired chapters written by scholars in different disciplines that discuss the same concept/idea/issue. For example, a discussion of how "assemblage" works in archaeology is paired with a discussion of how "assemblage" can be used to talk about ‘style’ in linguistics. Applications This section can be framed as sample answers to the question: What does interdisciplinarity look like?
The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinarity
Author: Robert Frodeman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191053260
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 657
Book Description
Interdisciplinarity has become as important outside academia as within. Academics, policy makers, and the general public seek insights to help organize the vast amounts of knowledge being produced, both within research and at all levels of education. The second edition of The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinarity offers a thorough update of this major reference work, summarizing the latest advances within the field of inter- and transdisciplinarity. The collection is distinguished by its breadth of coverage, with chapters written by leading experts from multiple networks and organizations. The volume is edited by respected interdisciplinary scholars and supported by a prestigious advisory board to ensure the highest quality and breadth of coverage. The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinarity provides a synoptic overview of the current state of interdisciplinary research, education, administration and management, and of problem solving-knowledge that spans the disciplines and interdisciplinary fields. The volume negotiates the space between the academic community and society at large. Offering the most broad-based account of inter- and transdisciplinarity to date, its 47 chapters provide a snapshot of the state of knowledge integration as interdisciplinarity approaches its century mark. This second edition expands its coverage to discuss the emergence of new fields, the increase of interdisciplinary approaches within traditional disciplines and professions, new integrative approaches to education and training, the widening international presence of interdisciplinarity, its increased support in funding agencies and science-policy bodies, and the formation of several new international associations associated with interdisciplinarity. This reference book will be a valuable addition to academic libraries worldwide, important reading for members of the sciences, social sciences, and humanities engaged in interdisciplinary research and education, and helpful for administrators and policy makers seeking to improve the use of knowledge in society.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191053260
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 657
Book Description
Interdisciplinarity has become as important outside academia as within. Academics, policy makers, and the general public seek insights to help organize the vast amounts of knowledge being produced, both within research and at all levels of education. The second edition of The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinarity offers a thorough update of this major reference work, summarizing the latest advances within the field of inter- and transdisciplinarity. The collection is distinguished by its breadth of coverage, with chapters written by leading experts from multiple networks and organizations. The volume is edited by respected interdisciplinary scholars and supported by a prestigious advisory board to ensure the highest quality and breadth of coverage. The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinarity provides a synoptic overview of the current state of interdisciplinary research, education, administration and management, and of problem solving-knowledge that spans the disciplines and interdisciplinary fields. The volume negotiates the space between the academic community and society at large. Offering the most broad-based account of inter- and transdisciplinarity to date, its 47 chapters provide a snapshot of the state of knowledge integration as interdisciplinarity approaches its century mark. This second edition expands its coverage to discuss the emergence of new fields, the increase of interdisciplinary approaches within traditional disciplines and professions, new integrative approaches to education and training, the widening international presence of interdisciplinarity, its increased support in funding agencies and science-policy bodies, and the formation of several new international associations associated with interdisciplinarity. This reference book will be a valuable addition to academic libraries worldwide, important reading for members of the sciences, social sciences, and humanities engaged in interdisciplinary research and education, and helpful for administrators and policy makers seeking to improve the use of knowledge in society.
Disciplining Interdisciplinarity
Author: Gabriele Bammer
Publisher: ANU E Press
ISBN: 1922144282
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 496
Book Description
This book provides collaborative research teams with a systematic approach for addressing complex real-world problems like widespread poverty, global climate change, organised crime, and escalating health care costs. The three core domains are Synthesising disciplinary and stakeholder knowledge,Understanding and managing diverse unknowns, andProviding integrated research support for policy and practice change. Each of these three domains is organised around five questions For what and for whom?Which knowledge, unknowns and aspects of policy or practice?How?Context?Outcome? This simple framework lays the foundations for developing compilations of concepts, methods and case studies about applying systems thinking, scoping and boundary setting, framing, dealing with values, harnessing and managing differences, undertaking dialogue, building models, applying common metrics, accepting unknowns, advocacy, end-user engagement, understanding authorisation, dealing with organisational facilitators and barriers, and much more. The book makes a case for a new research style—integrative applied research—and a new discipline of Integration and Implementation Sciences or I2S. It advocates for progressing these through an I2S Development Drive. It builds on theory and practice-based research in multi-, inter- and transdisciplinarity, post-normal science, systemic intervention, integrated assessment, sustainability science, team science, mode 2, action research and other approaches. The book concludes with 24 commentaries by Simon Bronitt; L. David Brown; Marcel Bursztyn and Maria Beatriz Maury; Lawrence Cram; Ian Elsum; Holly J. Falk-Krzesinski; Fasihuddin; Howard Gadlin and L. Michelle Bennett; Budi Haryanto; Julie Thompson Klein; Ted Lefroy; Catherine Lyall; M. Duane Nellis; Linda Neuhauser; Deborah O’Connell with Damien Farine, Michael O’Connor and Michael Dunlop; Michael O’Rourke; Christian Pohl; Merritt Polk; Alison Ritter; Alice Roughley; Michael Smithson; Daniel Walker; Michael Wesley; and Glenn Withers. These begin a process of appraisal, discussion and debate across diverse networks.
Publisher: ANU E Press
ISBN: 1922144282
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 496
Book Description
This book provides collaborative research teams with a systematic approach for addressing complex real-world problems like widespread poverty, global climate change, organised crime, and escalating health care costs. The three core domains are Synthesising disciplinary and stakeholder knowledge,Understanding and managing diverse unknowns, andProviding integrated research support for policy and practice change. Each of these three domains is organised around five questions For what and for whom?Which knowledge, unknowns and aspects of policy or practice?How?Context?Outcome? This simple framework lays the foundations for developing compilations of concepts, methods and case studies about applying systems thinking, scoping and boundary setting, framing, dealing with values, harnessing and managing differences, undertaking dialogue, building models, applying common metrics, accepting unknowns, advocacy, end-user engagement, understanding authorisation, dealing with organisational facilitators and barriers, and much more. The book makes a case for a new research style—integrative applied research—and a new discipline of Integration and Implementation Sciences or I2S. It advocates for progressing these through an I2S Development Drive. It builds on theory and practice-based research in multi-, inter- and transdisciplinarity, post-normal science, systemic intervention, integrated assessment, sustainability science, team science, mode 2, action research and other approaches. The book concludes with 24 commentaries by Simon Bronitt; L. David Brown; Marcel Bursztyn and Maria Beatriz Maury; Lawrence Cram; Ian Elsum; Holly J. Falk-Krzesinski; Fasihuddin; Howard Gadlin and L. Michelle Bennett; Budi Haryanto; Julie Thompson Klein; Ted Lefroy; Catherine Lyall; M. Duane Nellis; Linda Neuhauser; Deborah O’Connell with Damien Farine, Michael O’Connor and Michael Dunlop; Michael O’Rourke; Christian Pohl; Merritt Polk; Alison Ritter; Alice Roughley; Michael Smithson; Daniel Walker; Michael Wesley; and Glenn Withers. These begin a process of appraisal, discussion and debate across diverse networks.
Configurations of Interdisciplinarity Within Education
Author: Trine Øland
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000640248
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 138
Book Description
This book explores how everyday life within educational institutions changes in response to ideas of interdisciplinarity at policy level. It provides new insights into different configurations of interdisciplinarity, which traverses all levels of the Danish educational system. Offering a novel perspective to interdisciplinarity in terms of its configurations, the book discusses the Danish educational system and its current transformations, showing how progressive ideas are entangled with new forms of accountability and complex responsibilities. It identifies the concrete challenges that interdisciplinarity is expected to solve, and the organizational changes resulting from the solutions introduced, arguing that interdisciplinarity in education is neither a uniform or consistent process, nor are the kinds of disciplining it may yield. This book will appeal to academics, researchers, and post-graduate students in the fields of interdisciplinary education, pedagogy, comparative education and northern European educational and welfare systems.
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000640248
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 138
Book Description
This book explores how everyday life within educational institutions changes in response to ideas of interdisciplinarity at policy level. It provides new insights into different configurations of interdisciplinarity, which traverses all levels of the Danish educational system. Offering a novel perspective to interdisciplinarity in terms of its configurations, the book discusses the Danish educational system and its current transformations, showing how progressive ideas are entangled with new forms of accountability and complex responsibilities. It identifies the concrete challenges that interdisciplinarity is expected to solve, and the organizational changes resulting from the solutions introduced, arguing that interdisciplinarity in education is neither a uniform or consistent process, nor are the kinds of disciplining it may yield. This book will appeal to academics, researchers, and post-graduate students in the fields of interdisciplinary education, pedagogy, comparative education and northern European educational and welfare systems.
Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies
Author: Allen F. Repko
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 150634688X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 465
Book Description
The Second Edition provides a comprehensive introduction to interdisciplinary studies with an approach that is succinct, conceptual, and practical. Completely updated to reflect advances in the literature on research, learning, and assessment, the book describes the role of both disciplines and interdisciplinarity within the academy, and how these have evolved. Authors Allen F. Repko, Rick Szostak, and Michelle Phillips Buchberger effectively show students how to think like interdisciplinarians in order to facilitate their working with topics, complex problems, or themes that span multiple disciplines.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 150634688X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 465
Book Description
The Second Edition provides a comprehensive introduction to interdisciplinary studies with an approach that is succinct, conceptual, and practical. Completely updated to reflect advances in the literature on research, learning, and assessment, the book describes the role of both disciplines and interdisciplinarity within the academy, and how these have evolved. Authors Allen F. Repko, Rick Szostak, and Michelle Phillips Buchberger effectively show students how to think like interdisciplinarians in order to facilitate their working with topics, complex problems, or themes that span multiple disciplines.
A Christian Approach to Interdisciplinary Studies
Author: William Dennison
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1498276202
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 88
Book Description
In an academic world that has rejected a Christian ontology, metaphysic, and epistemology, as well as the secular foundationalism of modernity, one is hard-pressed to find any secular academician in the field of interdisciplinary studies (IDS) advocating a definitive starting point and methodology for IDS. In A Christian Approach to Interdisciplinary Studies, William D. Dennison asks, is such a study truly integrative that does not have an ontological, integrative starting point and the constitutive component of method? To put the question another way, without the God of the Bible as the author of integration within creation, can there truly be IDS? Indeed, Dennison calls for the integration of approach and method, integration provided and modeled by the triune God of Scripture. Adapted from the Preface
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1498276202
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 88
Book Description
In an academic world that has rejected a Christian ontology, metaphysic, and epistemology, as well as the secular foundationalism of modernity, one is hard-pressed to find any secular academician in the field of interdisciplinary studies (IDS) advocating a definitive starting point and methodology for IDS. In A Christian Approach to Interdisciplinary Studies, William D. Dennison asks, is such a study truly integrative that does not have an ontological, integrative starting point and the constitutive component of method? To put the question another way, without the God of the Bible as the author of integration within creation, can there truly be IDS? Indeed, Dennison calls for the integration of approach and method, integration provided and modeled by the triune God of Scripture. Adapted from the Preface
Integrating Knowledge Through Interdisciplinary Research
Author: Dominic Holland
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113449016X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 456
Book Description
In this important new text, Holland seeks to explain, by means of social scientific and philosophical inquiry, the difficulties that researchers often experience when attempting to integrate knowledge from different academic disciplines, either individually or as part of a team of subject specialists. It is argued that the difficulty of integrating knowledge from different academic disciplines is the result of, firstly, an inadequate justification of the nature of scientific integration and differentiation and, secondly, the dominance of disciplinary specialization in scientific inquiry. By focusing on both the theoretical justification for, and the practical feasibility of, integrating knowledge through interdisciplinary research, this book asks what properties of reality make the integration of knowledge from different academic disciplines possible and to what extent it is feasible to integrate knowledge through interdisciplinary research within a traditional, disciplinary context. Accordingly the text is both philosophical and social scientific in content: philosophical in the sense that it presents a theory of causal determination, which will help researchers to understand how reality is both differentiated and interconnected; social scientific in the sense that it presents the results of three case studies of collaborative interdisciplinary research projects. The book is heavily informed by the philosophy of critical realism. The philosophical argument about the possibility of integration and specialization in science draws explicitly on some of the key concepts of critical realism – particularly those comprising the theory of ‘integrative pluralism’ – while critical realist assumptions underpin the social scientific argument about the causal influence of the social system of knowledge production. By exploring researchers’ conceptions of knowledge and of reality on the one hand and their decisions about what sort of knowledge to produce on the other, Holland shows how the difficulty of scientific integration is both a problem of knowledge and a problem of knowledge production. This book is essential reading for students and academics interested in the emerging topic of knowledge integration and interdisciplinarity.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113449016X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 456
Book Description
In this important new text, Holland seeks to explain, by means of social scientific and philosophical inquiry, the difficulties that researchers often experience when attempting to integrate knowledge from different academic disciplines, either individually or as part of a team of subject specialists. It is argued that the difficulty of integrating knowledge from different academic disciplines is the result of, firstly, an inadequate justification of the nature of scientific integration and differentiation and, secondly, the dominance of disciplinary specialization in scientific inquiry. By focusing on both the theoretical justification for, and the practical feasibility of, integrating knowledge through interdisciplinary research, this book asks what properties of reality make the integration of knowledge from different academic disciplines possible and to what extent it is feasible to integrate knowledge through interdisciplinary research within a traditional, disciplinary context. Accordingly the text is both philosophical and social scientific in content: philosophical in the sense that it presents a theory of causal determination, which will help researchers to understand how reality is both differentiated and interconnected; social scientific in the sense that it presents the results of three case studies of collaborative interdisciplinary research projects. The book is heavily informed by the philosophy of critical realism. The philosophical argument about the possibility of integration and specialization in science draws explicitly on some of the key concepts of critical realism – particularly those comprising the theory of ‘integrative pluralism’ – while critical realist assumptions underpin the social scientific argument about the causal influence of the social system of knowledge production. By exploring researchers’ conceptions of knowledge and of reality on the one hand and their decisions about what sort of knowledge to produce on the other, Holland shows how the difficulty of scientific integration is both a problem of knowledge and a problem of knowledge production. This book is essential reading for students and academics interested in the emerging topic of knowledge integration and interdisciplinarity.