Interdisciplinary Research Methodology: Types and Key Stages

Interdisciplinary Research Methodology and Implementation

Types of Interdisciplinarity

Interdisciplinarity can manifest in various forms, including:

• Auxiliary
• Instrumental
• Structural
• Conceptual
• Operational
• Methodological
• Borderline
• Theoretical
• Composed

Stages of the Interdisciplinary Approach

Implementing a successful interdisciplinary project requires adherence to several critical stages:

1. Creating the Research Team

The first stage involves constituting a dedicated team. For the work to be truly effective and meaningful, it requires a focus group where each specialist is able to present their research and gain a better awareness of the contributions and limitations of their respective discipline. As a starting point, a research group should develop a work program, anticipating potential difficulties and identifying the necessary information required to specify both the background of the study and the expected scope.

2. Unification of Technical Language

The second stage is the establishment of key concepts for the common project, especially since the project's influence extends across several disciplines. It is essential to proceed with a classification of the common vocabulary to be used by everyone. Agreement on basic terminology and its significance across related disciplines is crucial from the outset. If experts do not agree on the terms and concepts they will use, they run the risk of building an interdisciplinary dialogue based on prejudices, misconceptions, and misunderstandings. Therefore, before embarking on other stages of teamwork, it is necessary to overcome the first major hurdle for a truly common project: language. The lack of a common language can definitively hinder the development of an interdisciplinary project, and may even prevent the integrated team from developing a new methodology.

3. Identification of a Common Problem

Defining the problem assumes an entirely strategic role because, from that moment on, views may clash or confront each other, with each participant potentially revealing an exaggerated perspective provided by their own discipline. Hence, the importance of interdisciplinary research hinges on the degree of participation of each member. The study design must identify and formulate precisely the problem to be addressed, which will orient the mechanisms and techniques used for obtaining and analyzing the necessary information for the problem's analysis and solution.

4. Formulation of the Problem

When faced with a problem situation addressed by researchers from different disciplines, the formulation of the problem involves reducing it to its minimum expression by developing a synthesis of the research work referred to in the project. Through precise formulation, researchers can capture the internal structure of the identified problem.

5. Determination of Hypotheses or Alternative Solutions

The precise formulation of the problem helps determine the possible scenarios and responses that will be verified to properly solve this problem by applying the research process. This stage is crucial for testing potential solutions.