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Family and Consumer Sciences University Faculty Perceptions of Interdisciplinary Work
Author(s) -
Vincenti Virginia B.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
family and consumer sciences research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.372
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1552-3934
pISSN - 1077-727X
DOI - 10.1177/1077727x05277742
Subject(s) - qualitative research , perception , medical education , consistency (knowledge bases) , psychology , pedagogy , sociology , university faculty , higher education , work (physics) , social science , medicine , political science , engineering , mechanical engineering , neuroscience , geometry , mathematics , law
The overall purpose of this article is to describe research focusing on two questions: What is family and consumer sciences (FCS) higher education faculty members' understanding of interdisciplinary work? What have faculty learned from their interdisciplinary experiences about facilitators and inhibitors? The researcher used Seidman's three‐question, in‐depth interview protocol with 9 participants in a large, midwestern, land‐grant university. Qualitative analysis of audiotaped interviews revealed that faculty had different understandings, but there was consistency with the levels of interdisciplinarity in Klein's taxonomy of interdisciplinarity, plus an integrative level. The following facilitators and inhibitors of interdisciplinary faculty work emerged from the analysis: developmental experiences, faculty qualities, time commitment, team composition, group qualities and dynamics, institutional structures and policies, and status and rewards.