Interdisciplinary Theory & Methods

Faculteit—

NiveauMaster

Studiejaar2026-2027

Beschrijving

Course goals

In this course students will learn to:

Explicate when and why an interdisciplinary approach and/or a transdisciplinary approach is desirable.
Critically evaluate and reflect on the inter- and / or transdisciplinary nature of existing research (or lack thereof).
Substantiate the theoretical, practical, and epistemological requirements for achieving integration at the conceptual and methodological level.
Collectively design a mixed methods inter- and transdisciplinary research proposal with a multidisciplinary team.
Reflect on the conceptual and methodological challenges of designing an inter- and transdisciplinary mixed methods research study
Use and reflect on the skills necessary to collaborate in an inter- or transdisciplinary research team

Content

Interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity are powerful integrative means for understanding complex societal problems. That is why over the past decades inter- and transdisciplinary research have gained prominence within broader scientific trends of open science and systems thinking. Moreover, social science – itself a multidisciplinary field – is becoming increasingly important in research bridging disciplinary domains as well as the science-practice/society nexus.

To make optimal use of inter- and transdisciplinary research, it is important to understand what they entail and require. Interdisciplinarity involves the integration of knowledge from separate disciplines, whereas transdisciplinarity involves the integration of academic and non-academic knowledge. These integrative approaches require an awareness of the workings of, and differences between, (social) scientific disciplines as well as between science and non-scientific stakeholders. They also require an understanding of the challenges that come with combining theoretical insights and research methodologies from different disciplines.

In this course, students will become familiar with inter- and transdisciplinary approaches for examining and addressing societal challenges, and learn when and why these approaches are necessary, desirable and feasible. Students will learn how inter- and transdisciplinarity integration can be achieved conceptually and methodologically and what kind of epistemological assumptions and practical and collaborative skills are necessary to do so. In multidisciplinary team, students will design and reflect on a mixed methods interdisciplinary research idea.

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