What are some strategies for developing interdisciplinary research questions?

Once you have identified a topic, it is critically important to articulate a well-defined research question and to orient the analysis around addressing that specific question. The question should be sufficiently narrow to make the analysis tractable, but not so narrow that only a minute segment of researchers in the topical area would have an interest. The research question should be placed in the context of the existing literature. Even in a standalone literature review, there should be a well-defined question. Ask a specific question, make a definitive statement about the question, and make a case for that statement using the literature or original analysis.

Identifying a problem requires a thorough review of literature.. To reach a gap in knowledge is associated with knowing what has been already known and which aspect requires further solutions. This way, we may reach the problem statement easily and land into a research hypothesis. As, the area is Interdisciplinary, discussing with the experts and peers in the field is another way through which we may be able to get better directions for our problem.

First and foremost is to clarity whether you are doing Multidisciplinary research or Interdisciplinary research. Once you are clear that it is an Interdisciplinary research, then ? Your first set of research questions should be on the linkages of knowledge between the various disciplinary ? Once you gain the integrated knowledge from different disciplinary, the second set of questions focus on the research problem that your team indent to solve. Go back to step 1 if the knowledge linkages between disciplines are not sufficient enough to address ? In case you don’t find academic knowledge linkages for your research problem, you might take up transdisciplinary research.

Explore intersections between different disciplines. Look for shared concepts, methodologies, or problems that could be addressed collaboratively. Identify areas where one discipline's strengths can complement another's weaknesses. This recognition can lead to questions that leverage the strengths of multiple fields.

Research search engines like Google scholar and other databases help to do a thorough literature work on knowing what has already been done. The published works also always offer recommendations for future, which may be another approach to identify the research problems in the area you want to work. The review studies are also helpful in knowing the existing gaps. A Interdisciplinary study often requires expert supervision to not fall out of the right way.

One of the most important thing in interdisciplinary study is; a good scan in multi-literatures for obtaining multi-datas in interdisciplinary study. Interdisciplinary studies needs more literature scans than other academic studies.

Listing the areas one by one and going through a thorough discussion among the team must be done as it helps to frame better research questions. An area that involves multiple disciplines requires question that are inter related and relevant.

Now that my dear fellow researchers is the right question. When students come to me for their thesis topics, my advice to them is to choose a topic which would have impact on the world rather than stringing words together. Formulate a clear, concise, and focused research question that captures the essence of your interdisciplinary research. Ensure that the question is specific enough to guide your investigation and broad enough to encompass multiple disciplines. The SPICE model helps researchers consider important factors and elements that contribute to the overall design and impact of the research.

Interdisciplinary researchs are usually aimed at improving or rather benefitting the areas involved. Identifying a research question that benefits and answers all relevant information is commonly framed. A good research question is followed by the hypothesis to be tested and the methodology that will be followed to answer them.

Be open to unconventional or non-traditional approaches. Interdisciplinary research often involves thinking outside disciplinary boundaries.