Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies E-Book

Gunilla Oberg

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 317

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

Environmental issues are inherently interdisciplinary, and environmental academic programs increasingly use an interdisciplinary approach. This timely book presents a core framework for conducting high quality interdisciplinary research. It focuses on the opportunities rather than the challenges of interdisciplinary work and is written for those doing interdisciplinary work (rather than those studying it). It is designed to facilitate high quality interdisciplinary work and the author uses illustrative examples from student work and papers published in the environmental literature. This book's lucid, problem-solving approach is framed in an accessible easy-to-read style and will be indispensable for anyone embarking on a research project involving interdisciplinary collaboration. Readership: graduate students, advanced undergraduates, and researchers involved in the interface between human and natural environmental systems

Leseprobe

Contents

Foreword

Preface

1 Introduction

Challenges and opportunities

On quality

Background

A note on terminology

Interaction between academia and the broader society

Interdisciplinary and transacademic work

Notes

2 Beyond CPS now

Quantitative and qualitative studies

Improved understanding and quality

Drawing on commonalities

Context dependence and quantification

Interpretation and context

Notes

3 Questioning to l earn and learning to question

Part I: Interdisciplinary expectations (Questions 1 to 3)

Part II: Transacademic aspirations (Questions 4 and 5)

Part III: Academicrigour (Questions 6 to 10)

Notes

4 Why do you conduct interdisciplinary work?

Where do you position yourself on the reflection scale? (Question 1)

To what end are you using knowledge from different disciplines? (Question 2)

Conceptual approach: I want to contribute to a new or emerging field

Epistemological approach: I find disciplinary way( s) to describe the issue problematic

Ontological approach: I find the way society perceives the issue problematic

Reflections in relation to Question 2

What makes your work interdisciplinary? (Question 3)

Reflections in relation to Question 3

Notes

5 Why d o you interact with society?

Academic knowledge and decision-making

Who participates in which part of the study and how? (Question 4)

Reflections in relation to Question 4

Why do you interact with society? (Question 5)

Reflections in relation to Question 5

A word of warning: Don’t be snobbish

Notes

6 Rigorous but not rigid

On quality assessment

Confusing form and credibility − an example

Communication

Interest and relevance

Credibility and relevance

Notes

7 Marking your playground

Framing

Aim

Operationalizing the aim

Confusing interdisciplinarity with “Everything”

Notes

8 Evidence that holds for scrutiny

How or why?

Common procedures

Mixing various types of empirical evidence

Notes

9 Anchoring your canoe

Clarifying your sources

Anchoring your frame

Anchoring your method

Notes

10 Analysis

Defining “analysis”

Clarifying the own, the new

Relevant literature – your canon

Common k nowledge

Original r esearch

Textbooks

The style of recognized scholars

Passive and active voice

Notes

11 Beauty is in the e ye of the beholder

Headings

Where do I place the reflections?

Where do I describe the context?

References

Notes

12 Being interdisciplinary

Creating an open and respectful climate

Hierarchies that impair

Humbleness and courage

Outstanding studies

Dialogue, feedback and how to manage supervisors

Notes

References

Primary sources

Secondary sources

Index

This edition first published 2011, © 2011 by Gunilla Öberg

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Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Öberg, Gunilla.

Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies : a primer / Gunilla Öberg.

p. cm.

Includes index.

Summary: “Interdisciplinary work is to a large extent a question of entering the unknown, an adventure with exciting and endless opportunities” - Provided by publisher.

ISBN 978-1-4443-3686-3 (hardback) - ISBN 978-1-4443-3687-0 (pbk.)

1. Interdisciplinary research. I. Title.

Q180.55.I48O24 2010

304.2′8072-dc22

2010023312

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This book is published in the following electronic formats: eBook 9781444328493;

Wiley Online Library 9781444328486

Set in 10/13 pt Rotis Semisans by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited

Dedication

To Margareta and Bengt-for teaching me to question

Foreword

The publication of a primer for interdisciplinary environmental studies comes at a time of three important developments: the emergence of a growing number of resources for students and others embarking on interdisciplinary research, the escalation of “transacademic” or trans-sector “transdisciplinary” approaches, and increased attention to questions of quality. Bridging the divides of disciplinary worldviews, qualitative and quantitative approaches, and theory and practice, Gunilla Öberg focuses on the production of written texts in the environmental field, informed by literature on interdisciplinary studies and experience in environmental and sustainability programs in Sweden and Canada.

The book places learning at the heart of the research process in an interrogative approach that fosters critical thinking and cultivation of the “reflective doer.” Inclusion of reflections by students and others model the process and may be used both independently and in coursework. The overall structure of sign - posting with numberous examples and exercises guides readers through the maze of framing a study, grounding it in relevant literature, analyzing evidence, gauging interest and relevance, interacting with others in the academy and in society, making creative use of disciplinary differences, establishing common ground, and achieving credibility on both disciplinary and interdisciplinary ground. Ö berg also answers frequently asked questions about which methods and research traditions students are most likely to utilize, how to anchor written texts, and how to communicate the aims of a study. Grappling with the challenges of complexity, contextualization, and interpretation can be daunting, let alone the wide range of pragmatic, conceptual, epistemological, and ontological contours of research. Interdisciplinary studies, Ö berg notes in her introduction, is a journey into the unknown. Yet, her book demonstrates, it need not be a mystery.

Julie Thompson Klein

Wayne State University,

Detroit, MI, USA

Preface

How do we tackle the complex challenges of the future? What knowledge is needed and what kind of skills? This book has been borne out of uncountable dialogues with students, colleagues, friends and family pondering these questions. As professor and supervisor, the question I constantly struggle with is “ What should we teach and how?” We clearly need to increase our ability to integrate various types of knowledge. Many are those who have written on these issues and it is certainly not because of lack of deep insights that we still struggle with the challenges of interdisciplinary studies. My sense is that there is a need for hands - on pragmatic advice, a feeling that has been with me and continued to grow ever since I wrote my bachelor thesis on earthworms and environmental monitoring some twenty years ago. So I decided to write a ‘ primer’ to interdisciplinary studies; the word has many meanings of which one is catalyst that initiates complex actions beyond itself. My hope is that this book will help you get started - and encourage you to keep going.

Teachers and colleagues can inspire both through the quality of their teaching and by standing as fully - formed examples of brilliant scholars. When we begin to write, supervisors, colleagues and friends push us to do our best, inspiring us and giving us confidence. Many have guided me along the way and it is impossible to thank all to whom I owe gratitude. From the beginning of my thinking about interdisciplinarity: my undergraduate supervisor, Dr. Jan Landin, for being a warm and dedicated teacher driven by a deep passion for ecology that I would often remember as I began to work with those equally passionate about their own disciplines. My graduate supervisor, Dr. Anders Grimvall, for stressing the necessity of asking the right questions (and of questioning the questions) and pushing my writing skills. Graduate student colleagues and friends in the communal lunch team for discussions on knowledge and the role of science in society, especially Drs. Johan Hedr é n and Karin Sundblad. Research partners: Dr. Karin B ä ckstrand for opening my eyes to qualitative studies; Drs. Roger Pielke Jr, Merle Jacobs and Eva L ö vbrand for lively and thoughtful discussions on science - policy interaction and Drs. Madelaine Abrandt - Dahlgren and Victoria Wibeck for insights into the theory and practice of Problem Based Learning and Focus Group methodology. Colleagues in the Environmental Science Program, especially Drs. Thomas Achen and Per Sand é n for fruitful discussions on teaching and learning across “ the Gap ” . My chlorine research group, most notably Drs. David Bastviken and Teresia Svensson, for helping me remember that interdisciplinary challenges may also be pertinent in “ pure ” science studies. My passionate and colorful colleagues at UBC: Dr. Terre Satterfield for sharing splendid practical exercises and for thoughtful, inspiring and fun discussions on quality assessment and the nature of evidence; Dr. John Robinson for helping me to see the broader picture; Dr. Douw Steyn for in - depth and careful reading of an early version; Dr. Hadi Dowlat Abadi for insightful, constructive and thought - provoking comments and propositions; Dr. Kai Chan for sincere and carefully thought through discussions on “ usefulness ” .

When we teach and supervise, we benefit from students who, as junior members of the academy, bring openness and excitement to the problems we are wrestling with in our work. I am deeply indebted to the countless number of students who have provided feedback while reading earlier versions of the manuscript. Special thanks to: the students from the first cohorts in the Environmental Science Program at Link ö ping University for discussions on quality assessment; the group of graduate students at UBC who took the time to discuss and dissect each chapter of an early version, which led to a total revamping of the entire manuscript: Meg O’ Shea, Negar Elmieh, Tom Berkhout, Lara Hoshizaki, Conor Reynolds, Jack Teng, Sonja Klinsky and Nicole Dusyk; and finally, my warm thanks to the four students who have been “ test - driving ” the questions of Chapters 4 and 5: Natalie Ban, Charlie Wilson, Shannon Hagerman and Jane Lister, who also have acted as a sounding board on the hills or over a glass of wine. Many warm thanks to Elizabeth Maurer for helping me writing English good - she edited the text, skillfully eradicating all “ swedicisms ” while sensibly allowing my personal style to color the text, and to Andrea Chamberlain for making the cover painting, skillfully capturing the hue and texture I had in mind. I also wish to thank my editor Ian Francis and the team at Blackwell and Wiley; it has been a pleasure to work with you.

Last but not least, my warmest thanks to my loving family: to my parents Margareta and Bengt for encouraging curiosity, creativity and hands - on pragmatism. To my children Anna and Martin for thoughtful questions, insightful responses and for challenging me to stay open - minded. And to Doug, for the book title, for listening and feed - back, and for being more stubborn than I am.

Gunilla Öberg

Vancouver, Canada

August 2010

1

Introduction

Interdisciplinary1 work is to a large extent a question of entering the unknown, an adventure with exciting and endless opportunities. Since each setting is new and the details cannot be foreseen, students and scholars who work in interdisciplinary environments must be independent and self driven. This book is therefore more of a guide than a how-to handbook. “High quality” is shaped differently in different disciplines. Rather than letting these differences be a hindrance, you can use them as a springboard for inventive and original work. The governing idea of this book is to facilitate creation of interdisciplinary work by stimulating dialogues on quality and to draw on common-ground-creation processes to find unknown and unexplored territories.

This is first and foremost a book for graduate and undergraduate students about to enter the interdisciplinary world, but my intention is to write a book that also is useful for teachers, supervisors, researchers and editors who are active in interdisciplinary settings.

Drawing on my own experiences and leaning on the literature on inter-disciplinarity, I strive to facilitate the development of “Reflective Doers”. The target is mainly students and scholars in the environmental field, who work with issues that involve interaction between and among the human and natural worlds and who consequently may have quite diverse disciplinary backgrounds - spanning from natural sciences, technology and health sciences to the social sciences and not least the humanities.