Interdisciplinary Research Methods

Last year I took a course from the Knowledge Media Design institute that focused on interdisciplinary approaches to research and academic practice. It was a novel experience for me, despite the increase in interdisciplinary research and programs throughout academia. While I've managed to cobble together a relatively interdisciplinary education through courses in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities, I haven't had many chances to take part in courses or programs aimed at broaching the barriers between academic fields. What I noticed in the KMDI course was that many students had trouble reconciling the concepts and practices discussed in the course with their own work, and many of the final projects were grounded heavily in one of the two with slight tribute paid to the other. My observations in KMDI follow with my own experience in research methods education across different disciplines, and in light of the increase in interdisciplinary studies I find it concerning.

I have previously learned research methods in a Psychology program, and I found the course very specific to the discipline. Emphasis was placed on ethics and ethical review procedures - understandable in light of the history of psychological research - and on quantitative data and statistical methods. The research methodology we were taught seemed to be very focused on the science of psychology and numerical data, and designing experiments in a very non-salsa dancing manner. A calculator was required for both of the examinations. In fact, a second research methods course from the same department focused entirely on teaching students how to use APA formatting and a statistical software package. While these may be useful tools for pure psychological researchers, there was very little exposure to concepts of selecting research topics, choosing from an array of methodologies, or incorporating influences from outside psychology.

My experience with biology was very different in that there were no courses directly focused on research methodology. Instead, every course with a laboratory or field component exposed students to the experimental process and different methods of analysis. It seemed that the expectation was for students to learn research methodology through inference and laboratory work, and use the statistical methods from math courses to support their analysis of data.

Studying English, I was exposed to different theoretically frameworks and approaches to study in seminar courses, but had little education or exposure to methods for performing research. While research methods may not be a priority in the humanities, it seemed again in English that there was an assumption students would learn by inference how to perform analysis or find resources for their work. I did notice, however, that of the three fields English provided the most opportunities to incorporate other disciplines or integrate theory and methods from outside the field. While there was very little education in how to do so,space was made for using interdisciplinary approaches.

Our current research methods course is the most open to interdisciplinarity I have encountered, which makes sense in the essentially interdisciplinary information field. However, for the most part in my experience, the approach to research methods education is highly siloed and traditional. There may be research and methods designed specifically for interdisciplinary endeavors, but those are not the methods or approaches taught to students. This approach does not prepare students and future academics for the interdisciplinary work they will likely take in the future, and further leaves them unprepared to discuss research with scholars outside their field. The first exposure to concepts of research and experiments and methodology bias and influence a student's future understanding of what is academically valid. If the approaches to what research means are so inherently different across fields, how can a group of researchers discuss and mutually design research work?