Multidisciplinary Research: Implications for Agricultural and Applied Economists

Mooney, Siân; Young, Douglas L.; Cobourn, Kelly M.; Islam, Samia

doi:10.1017/s1074070800004685

Cited by 7 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 25 publications

(30 reference statements)

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“…Various researchers have recognized the institutional difficulties and challenges in integrating new systems of thought within an established discipline (e.g., Bammer, 2017;Brandstädter and Sonntag, 2016;Clark and Wallace, 2015;Jacob, 2015;Maxwell and Benneworth, 2018;Mooney et al, 2013). To overcome such challenges, various ID scholars contend that communication is central to the integration of insights from different disciplines (e.g., Brandstädter and Sonntag, 2016;Maxwell and Benneworth, 2018;Menken and Keestra, 2016;Repko and Szostak, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studies have shown that economic disciplines tend to exhibit a selfreferential bias that is skeptical of contributions made by other social science disciplines (Pieters and Baumgartner, 2002). This COMMENT PALGRAVE COMMUNICATIONS | https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-019-0235-8 appears to be supported in agricultural economics settings where disciplinary activities that promote the use of economics are given greater priority over other subject areas (e.g., Hilmer and Hilmer, 2005;Mooney et al, 2013), such as agribusiness (Detre et al, 2011). As a result, the task of the "gatekeeper" is not only to advocate the merits of a department's peripheral discipline to its economic core, but also to resolve and integrate their inconsistencies.…”

Section: Conceptual Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…The challenge facing agricultural economics departments is that it can no longer be organized along a core economic discipline, but needs to contend with a peripheral discipline-agribusiness-that does not support the department's core economic mission. Resolving this internal conflict is an important problem not only for departments that house multiple disciplines, but also to ID research (Bammer, 2017;Brandstädter and Sonntag, 2016;Clark and Wallace, 2015;Jacob, 2015;Maxwell and Benneworth, 2018;Mooney et al, 2013;Pedersen, 2016). This is because while disciplines form the foundation of ID approaches (Repko and Szostak, 2017), the advancement of "normal science" promotes a shared commitment that rejects the insights of peripheral disciplines (Becher and Trowler, 2001;Kuhn, 1962;Maxwell and Benneworth, 2018) and thus undermines the very integration sought by ID research.…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (N.A.S.A. ), have altered their funding requirements to place a greater prioritization on interdisciplinary research teams (Mooney et al, 2013). In particular, since the passing of the Agricultural Research, Extension and Education Reform Act of 1998, the U.S.D.A.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Agricultural economics is deeply rooted in the discipline of economics, yet due to its applied orientation, requires integrating various disciplines including: agricultural engineering, climate science, agricultural finance, animal husbandry, plant pathology, consumer behavior, and agricultural policy into a complex decision-making process. Due to its integrated nature, a recent assessment of the agricultural economics profession has renewed calls for greater interdisciplinarity (Mooney et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Overcoming disciplinary divides in higher education: the case of agricultural economics

Litzenberg

2019

Palgrave Commun

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As global problems have become ever more complex, the production and organization of knowledge in society is increasingly based on the sharing, integration and collaboration of diverse experiences. For instance, global 'grand challenges', such as world hunger, poverty, climate change, and sustainability often require an interdisciplinary (ID) approach, in which integrating the insights of different disciplines provides a more comprehensive solution than can be offered by any given discipline. Universities or higher educational institutions face increasing pressures to engage in such interdisciplinary collaboration. This interdisciplinarity, however, raises particular organizational challenges to departments in higher educational institutions. In particular, while departments have been traditionally organized around a disciplinary core, interdisciplinarity has placed increasing pressures on departments, such as agricultural economics, to integrate insights from disciplines that do not advance a department's disciplinary core. Few ID researchers have addressed the issue of how this internal conflict can be resolved in a departmental setting. Resolving this internal conflict is important to developing a greater interdisciplinarity among the disciplines of departmental units where a greater variety of disciplinary insights can be drawn upon to solve complex social problems. Here, we call for a unique organizational structure that can resolve this internal conflict. In using agricultural economics departments as a case study, we appeal to a concept of a "gatekeeper" whose role is to institute "loosely coupled" connections that can reconcile a department's internal conflicts. This "gatekeeper" can advance the "normal science" of a department's core and peripheral disciplines, while at the same time support a 'common ground' that appeals to these disciplines' common interests. A key conclusion is that "gatekeepers" can sustain the integration of disciplinary insights necessary for the advancement of interdisciplinarity in higher educational institutions.

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