Summary an Introduction to Interdisciplinary Research – Paula van Unen
Karl Popper: solving a problem often requires the integration of insights that pertain to different
subject matters or disciplines.
Employing highly elaborate forms of sense perception and reasoning, and building upon the relevant
work of other scientists are important features that distinguish the scientists’ acquisition of
knowledge from the way lay persons operate.
It is important to realize that there is a difference between the areas of research with regard tot he
prevalence and importance of specific theories. Physics is dominated by a few theories and a host of
specific laws connected to those theories, while in the social sciences and humanities there are many
competing theories but also many insights that have not been published in terms of a ‘theory’. Given
the fact that social, cultural and historical phenomena are very complex and dynamic, this lesser
prominence of theories in those domains should not be surprising, as such phenomena can usually
be partly elucidated from multiple perspectives. In many – though not in all - cases, we consider laws
as part of a theory: for example, the law of gravity and several laws of motion belong tot he theory of
classical mechanics formulated by Newton.
Deduction = prediction stemming from theory formulated by logical reasoning
Alongside deduction, induction is the most important logical reasoning process that scientists use in
their work, but it is far more complicated than deduction. Induction is making an inference. This is
never perfect or completely reliable. Inducing a generally valid theory from a limited set of facts or
data is logically never completely warranted and therefore always tricky. Nonetheless, if we want to
expand our knowledge we cannot do so without using induction at some point.
Interdisciplinary research by its very nature implies theoretical and methodological pluralism. This
brings its own difficulties but usually also yields more robust results than monism does.
Interdisciplinarians should particularly acknowledge scientific pluralis mand the importance of
assumptions. As interdisciplinary research consists of integrating insights from different sciences,
notwithstanding their theoretical and methodological differences, understanding and recognizing the
relevance of pluralism is a good starting point. Similarly, implicit assumptions can often prevent
scientists from collaborating or learning from each other, while articulating these assumptions might
facilitate this.
, Even though we still use the notion of a scientific ‘discipline’, we should be careful in assuming that
this term refers to a distinct and well-definable entity. On the contrary, we have seen that a discipline
nowadays is considered to be both internally pluralistic and no longer separable from other
disciplines in a neat sense. Once we recognize this, it may help us to understand how interdisciplinary
and transdisciplinary collaborations can be achieved and how they can differ from each other.
Scientists should be aware that their collaborative efforts may still leave differences intact regarding
their views about the ingredients of reality (ontology), about true and reliable knowledge
(epistemology), and about what are important and unimportant questions (including moral
questions). The challenge for interdisciplinarians is to be aware of this fact and to articulate and
communicate about these questions in order to avoid them impeding their research.
The basic difference between interdisciplinarity, multidisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity is the
extent to which researchers aim fort he integration or synthesis of (disciplinary) insights.
Interdisciplinary research literally means research between disciplilnes, referring tot he interaction of
disciplines with each other. In multidisciplinary research, the subject under study is also approached
from different angles, using different disciplinary perspectives. However, in that case neither the
theoretical perspectives nor the findings of the various disciplines are integrated. Lastly,
transdisciplinary research also involves actors from fields outside of the university, thereby allowing
fort he integration of academic and non-academic or experiental knowledge.
We define a discipline as a field of science with a particular object of research and a corresponding
body of accumulated specialist knowledge. This knowledge is effectively organized by and expressed
through theories, concepts, and assumptions inclusive of its discipline-specific terminologies and
Karl Popper: solving a problem often requires the integration of insights that pertain to different
subject matters or disciplines.
Employing highly elaborate forms of sense perception and reasoning, and building upon the relevant
work of other scientists are important features that distinguish the scientists’ acquisition of
knowledge from the way lay persons operate.
It is important to realize that there is a difference between the areas of research with regard tot he
prevalence and importance of specific theories. Physics is dominated by a few theories and a host of
specific laws connected to those theories, while in the social sciences and humanities there are many
competing theories but also many insights that have not been published in terms of a ‘theory’. Given
the fact that social, cultural and historical phenomena are very complex and dynamic, this lesser
prominence of theories in those domains should not be surprising, as such phenomena can usually
be partly elucidated from multiple perspectives. In many – though not in all - cases, we consider laws
as part of a theory: for example, the law of gravity and several laws of motion belong tot he theory of
classical mechanics formulated by Newton.
Deduction = prediction stemming from theory formulated by logical reasoning
Alongside deduction, induction is the most important logical reasoning process that scientists use in
their work, but it is far more complicated than deduction. Induction is making an inference. This is
never perfect or completely reliable. Inducing a generally valid theory from a limited set of facts or
data is logically never completely warranted and therefore always tricky. Nonetheless, if we want to
expand our knowledge we cannot do so without using induction at some point.
Interdisciplinary research by its very nature implies theoretical and methodological pluralism. This
brings its own difficulties but usually also yields more robust results than monism does.
Interdisciplinarians should particularly acknowledge scientific pluralis mand the importance of
assumptions. As interdisciplinary research consists of integrating insights from different sciences,
notwithstanding their theoretical and methodological differences, understanding and recognizing the
relevance of pluralism is a good starting point. Similarly, implicit assumptions can often prevent
scientists from collaborating or learning from each other, while articulating these assumptions might
facilitate this.
, Even though we still use the notion of a scientific ‘discipline’, we should be careful in assuming that
this term refers to a distinct and well-definable entity. On the contrary, we have seen that a discipline
nowadays is considered to be both internally pluralistic and no longer separable from other
disciplines in a neat sense. Once we recognize this, it may help us to understand how interdisciplinary
and transdisciplinary collaborations can be achieved and how they can differ from each other.
Scientists should be aware that their collaborative efforts may still leave differences intact regarding
their views about the ingredients of reality (ontology), about true and reliable knowledge
(epistemology), and about what are important and unimportant questions (including moral
questions). The challenge for interdisciplinarians is to be aware of this fact and to articulate and
communicate about these questions in order to avoid them impeding their research.
The basic difference between interdisciplinarity, multidisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity is the
extent to which researchers aim fort he integration or synthesis of (disciplinary) insights.
Interdisciplinary research literally means research between disciplilnes, referring tot he interaction of
disciplines with each other. In multidisciplinary research, the subject under study is also approached
from different angles, using different disciplinary perspectives. However, in that case neither the
theoretical perspectives nor the findings of the various disciplines are integrated. Lastly,
transdisciplinary research also involves actors from fields outside of the university, thereby allowing
fort he integration of academic and non-academic or experiental knowledge.
We define a discipline as a field of science with a particular object of research and a corresponding
body of accumulated specialist knowledge. This knowledge is effectively organized by and expressed
through theories, concepts, and assumptions inclusive of its discipline-specific terminologies and
