Operationalization of the concepts of interdisciplinarity: An implication elicitation exercises based on the framework synthesis methodology

Over the last few centuries, the overspecialization of various sciences under the pretext of benefiting from pure disciplinary knowledge led to alienation among and competition between different fields of science. Such competition has deviated knowledge from its main objective which is to understand and explain the phenomena. The remedy to this dilemma is to address a new approach, introduced to higher education in the late 1950s as “interdisciplinarity.” Accordingly, the main purpose of this article is to propose the strategic instances of operationalizing interdisciplinarity as the key requirements to provide a guideline for designing interdisciplinarity activities.

The present survey was carried out through the framework synthesis method. To codify the instances of operationalizing interdisciplinarity, the main elements and structures of the model were set as the basis of the query for each element and structure; an independent query was carried out in the literature of the study. The correspondence of the discovered instances was once more compared with the conceptual boxes of the primary theoretical model. Ultimately, the taxonomy was concluded through the operational instances based on the primary framework.

A total of 152 strategies were identified as implications of operationalization of 13 layers and 38 sublayers of the multilayer interdisciplinary model.

The development of interdisciplinarity in the national higher education system requires several measures to be taken at different levels of a discipline or scientific field of study. Relying on this, which is the main basis of entering into interdisciplinarity activities, the present study suggests and presents strategic instances of interdisciplinarity operationalization