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Welcome to the Interdisciplinary Research Methods project home page. The project aims to examine, explore and promote innovative and inter-disciplinary research methods. Many research methodologies exist across the disciplines but it is sadly true that the amount of transference between disciplines is rare and inter-disciplinary approaches all too few.
Since the inception of Inter-Disciplinary.Net we have been forcibly struck by how many are dealing with this issue at the micro-level in that they are experimenting with research methods that whilst well-established, are novel to their chosen discipline. Philosophical techniques have been used in management, transdisciplinary approaches have been used in biomedicine, and multi-disciplinary approaches are being used in IT, computing and multimedia. The conference attempts to tackle this issue head on and look for innovation in the way research is conducted, both in terms of re-use of existing approaches and/or new methods that are beginning to emerge.
The project will engage with a number of core themes;
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New methods that focus on inter-disciplinary work; understanding inter-disciplinary concepts; interlinking research methodologies; the desirability of inter-disciplinary research
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Research methods and design; the possibilities for inter-disciplinary collaboration and teamwork at national, international and global levels
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Methods which bridge academic research with business, professional and vocational research; understanding disciplines and how they evolve, institutions and how they are organised and methods of processing and transmitting research
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Quantitative and qualitative research methods
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Case studies of re-use of existing methods in new domains; the significance of case study reporting
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Evaluations and assessments of such methods
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IT-"compatible" research methods (data processing methodologies; processing of field work data; of interviews, ecc.)
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Acceptability to the political, economic and social worlds (e.g. funding)
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(Politically determined) power imbalances ("mainstream" methodologies vs. minority/ Indigenous/feminist/ethnic methodologies
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Cultural differences in research methods
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Interculturally appropriate interview "techniques" and/or methods
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Postcolonial methodologies (interculturally adequate methods) - current critique of ("mainstream") postcolonial methodologies
Related themes will also be identified for development and exploration. Out of our deliberations it is anticipated that a series of related cross context research projects will develop.