Interdisciplinary research (IDR) is seen as the key to solving complex social problems in areas such as digital transformation. Despite their potential for innovative results, IDR incentives, particularly in teamwork, often collide with the traditional disciplinary structures of the academic system. This poses a considerable career risk, especially for young researchers. Interdisciplinary teams often face specific challenges, such as lengthy negotiation processes and a lower level of commitment to the project goals. There is a lack of systematic evaluation of the quality of successful IDR teams in order to promote learning processes and better support interdisciplinary career paths.
The authors from the Weizenbaum Institute, CAIS and bidt want to fill this gap using the example of the interdisciplinary field of digitalisation research. Based on three workshops with 25 researchers in digitalisation research and an intensive examination of existing literature, they propose a questionnaire for the self-evaluation of interdisciplinary teams. The questionnaire is intended to promote both the self-learning of individual teams and that of the interdisciplinary field as a whole.
https://www.weizenbaum-library.de/items/56737627-b264-42e1-97b6-22841de68ff0
Reference:
Silvio Suckow, Josephine B. Schmitt, Sara Saba, Kim Beese, Maria Staudte, Andreas Wenninger (2024): What makes interdisciplinary teams successful? Development of a questionnaire to evaluate interdisciplinary collaboration in digitalisation research (Weizenbaum Discussion Paper #40). https://doi.org/10.34669/WI.DP/40