scholarly journals The Benefits, Challenges, and Disincentives of Interdisciplinary Collaboration

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L Lanterman ◽  
Sarah J Blithe

Research consistently demonstrates the value of interdisciplinary collaboration. It has also become common for universities to encourage their faculty to engage in interdisciplinary and collaborative research. However, there are several challenges and disincentives to this type of work. In this article, we draw on a single case study of a project employing interdisciplinary collaborative event ethnography (CEE) to demonstrate the benefits, challenges, and disincentives of this approach to research. We highlight the enhanced and nuanced outcomes achieved through interdisciplinary collaboration that would likely not have been achieved through an intradisciplinary approach to the research questions. The case study also highlights the challenges and disincentives associated with this research strategy, including longer work times, difficulty in publishing due to editorial and reviewer criticism about violating methods preferences or disciplinary boundaries, and issues related to publications outside of one’s field. We conclude with a call to enhance the incentives associated with interdisciplinary collaborative research.

2021 ◽  
pp. 205789112110405
Author(s):  
Ikhsan Darmawan

Although the number of countries that have adopted e-voting has decreased lately, the number of academic publications on e-voting adoption has increased in the last two years. To date, there is no coherent narrative in the existing literature that explains the progress of the research on e-voting adoption. This article aims to answer the following research question: “How has research on the topic of e-voting adoption progressed over the last 15 years?” The article provides a semi-systematic review of 78 studies that were conducted from 2005 to 2020. In this article, I argue that although the studies on e-voting adoption are dominated by a single case study, by research in the United States, and by the positivist paradigm, scholars have employed the term “e-voting adoption” diversely and the research on e-voting adoption has evolved to address more specific research questions. Recommendations for the future agenda of research on e-voting adoption are also discussed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 326-340
Author(s):  
Peter Söderholm ◽  
Terje Nilsen

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe an application of an effective risk-based methodology to support a living maintenance programme for railway infrastructure. Design/methodology/approach The overall research strategy is a single case study of switches and crossings at the Iron Ore Line in northern Sweden. The analysis was performed as a risk workshop guided by a methodology that integrates reliability-centred maintenance and barrier analysis. Findings The applied methodology is valuable to systematise and improve the existing maintenance programme, as well as supporting a continued living maintenance programme. Research limitations/implications The single case study approach may decrease the validity of the achieved results. However, similar case studies corroborate the results, which affect the validity in a positive way. Practical implications The resulting maintenance programme is effective, through compliance with external requirements, and more efficient, through improvements of tasks and intervals. Social implications An enhanced railway infrastructure maintenance programme contributes to improved safety, punctuality, and costs. Hence, railway becomes a more attractive mode of transport. Thereby, it also supports a safety performance of the railway that society is willing to pay for. Originality/value Significant improvements of the maintenance programme are achieved through adjustment of inspection intervals and tasks. The results also support the development of indicators, monitoring, and continuous improvement.


Author(s):  
Matthias Fischer

This paper approaches the concept of “sustainability” in the context of healthcare systems by applying the strategy of Decoding the Disciplines. The strategy of Decoding the Disciplines aims to make the implicit accesses behind central concepts of a discipline transparent by decoding them systematically. The concepts that are to be decoded are specific bottlenecks which are seen as necessary conditions for appropriate learning. This paper illustrates how the process was approached in a seminar with students majoring in Political Science in Germany, and suggests that this might have increased students’ learning and changed their way of applying sustainability. Being a single-case study, findings should be treated with caution. However, the goal of this explanatory study is to start a broader exchange among scholars, encouraging them to make their implicit and often hidden assumptions explicit to the community. The strategy of Decoding could then be a valuable tool for bridging the gap between disciplinary boundaries and transdisciplinary sustainability science.


2003 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-159
Author(s):  
Keith V. Bletzer

Migratory farm labor like other forms of migrant work both in and outside agriculture impedes on the opportunity to make choices. The following essay explores particular phases in the life of one man (a single case study) and examines how he considers turning points in his life that led to a long period of substance use, both as an immigrant in the country and as a working man in his home country, followed by a cessation of use and the beginning stages of recovery. / Para el migrante, viajar en busca de trabajo es díficil, ya sea que trabaje en agricultura o en otras labores. Este ensayo examina ciertas etapas en la vida de un hombre (estudio de un solo caso) que examina los cambios que le han ocurrido durante un período en que él consumía grandes cantidades de alcohol en los estados y en su país, seguido por un período de sobriedad (no tomaba alcohol, no usaba drogas) en este país en que él comienza una etapa de rehabilitación.


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