The ‘Paper and Pencil’ Operations of Interdisciplinarity: Interdisciplinary Integration as Information Practice
Year: 2022
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Interdisciplinary research produces innovative solutions to complex problems by integrating information from multiple disciplines. At present, despite the positioning of integration as the defining activity of interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary work tends to be evaluated on the basis of final outcomes, at the expense of a clear understanding of what interdisciplinary integration actually is. This thesis problematizes this outcome focus and makes the case for a practice-focused approach, using conceptual modeling and network analysis of the data holdings of in-progress interdisciplinary research projects to explore how researchers integrate data from multiple disciplines. These case studies demonstrate that even in ostensibly interdisciplinary research, data tend to be analyzed in disciplinary silos, leaving any integration that occurs to take place in an ad-hoc, after-the-fact fashion. The adverse implications of this finding on interdisciplinarity are discussed, and a framework for the repositioning of integration as a research practice is proposed as a potential solution.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Zogheib, Ciara
Institution: University of Toronto
Language: English
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7133063050