Page 8 - Interdisciplinary Approach to Research
P. 8
need to transcend disciplines, viewing excessive specialization as problematic both
epistemologically and politically. When interdisciplinary collaboration or research results in a
new solution to a problem, much information is given back to the various disciplines involved.
Therefore, both disciplinarians and interdisciplinarians may be seen in complementary relation to
one another (Thompson, 1990).
Politics of interdisciplinary studies
Ausburg (2006) opined that the popularity in the value of the idea and practice of
interdisciplinary research and teaching has risen since 1998 resulting in the rise of the number of
interdisciplinary studies at the undergraduate programs awarded at United States universities.
According to the National Center of Educational Statistics (NECS) data as reported in Ausburg
(2006), the number of interdisciplinary bachelor's degrees awarded annually rose from 7,000 in
1973 to 30,000 a year by 2005. In addition, educational leaders from the Boyer Commission to
Carnegie's President Vartan Gregorian to Alan I. Leshner, CEO of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science have advocated for interdisciplinary rather than disciplinary
approaches to problem solving in the 21st century (Ausburg, 2006).
This rate at which interdisciplinary education rose to prominence, Ausburg (2006) opined
has been echoed by the United States Federal Funding Agencies (USFFA), particularly the
National Institute of Health (NIH) which advocated that grant proposals be framed more as
interdisciplinary collaborative projects than single researcher or single disciplined researches. At
the same time, many thriving longstanding undergraduate degrees in interdisciplinary studies
programs which have been in existence for over 30 years, have been closed down, in spite of
healthy enrollment. Examples include Arizona International (formerly part of the University of
Arizona), the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at Miami University, and the Department of
7
