Integrating the social and natural sciences in environmental research: A discussion paper

Abstract

This paper considers the practical and intellectual challenges that attend efforts to integrate the social and natural sciences in environmental research, and the broader political, social and economic context in which this takes place. Based on the experiences of researchers in Australia-but with obvious relevance for researchers in many countries-it is the outcome of an interdisciplinary workshop which brought together social and natural scientists involved in environmental management. This event and the wider discussions that followed were initiated to enable researchers to exchange ideas about the obstacles to interdisciplinary collaboration, and to discuss ways to overcome these. The paper provides a summary of the issues and proposes some guidelines for interdisciplinary collaboration. These may be summarised as follows: • There is an overarching need to begin with-and maintain-intellectual, social and practical equalities throughout the entire research process. • There is a need, in the academe and in public discourse, for reflexive critiques of the conceptual models that are used to consider 'the environment', to challenge the dualism that separates and compartmentalises 'nature' as a kind of technical ecology. • Research design needs to begin with an in-depth discussion about theory, and efforts to ensure that all participants are able to make use of (or at least see where their research fits into) a model that conceptually integrates socio-cultural and biophysical complexities. • Participants need to have equal input into the design of all stages of the research: the key questions, the basic approach, and the kinds of methods, data and analysis that will be used. • Collaboration requires a significant amount of time to be spent in communication between the participants, so that all achieve at least a basic understanding of the types of theory, methods, data and analysis used by the others. Time and funding should be built into the process to enable this. • In major research projects, there is a case for employing someone with appropriate expertise, to facilitate the team's internal communications and to liaise with potential research users. • Consideration should be given to the 'profile' of collaborative research projects, so that participants can feel confident that their disciplinary identities will not be denigrated, appropriated, or consumed by assimilation. • In developing timetables and budgets for research, there needs to be greater recognition of different temporal needs. Rather than imposing a schedule that reflects only some disciplinary timeframes, each disciplinary area should be allocated time and funds in accord with its particular temporal realities. • Interdisciplinary projects have to deal with types of data that are rarely comparable, and do not mesh readily. Collaborators should consider how their data will be managed and whether they can be incorporated into-or at least linked with-systemic schemes that will encourage integrative ways of managing and possibly reconceptualising their information. • Rather than being homogenised, the outputs of collaborative research should reflect the diverse needs and qualities of each of the disciplines involved. Consideration should therefore be given to whether (and how) outputs will be integrated or at least positioned to inform and complement each other • Project designers should be bold in allocating realistic amounts of time and funds to support the kinds of changes in research design that will lead to successful interdisciplinary collaborations. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.