Deck 12: Analyzing Insights and Reflecting on Process

Question 1

In critically analyzing insights, we are interested in

A) determining disciplinary adequacy
B) identifying disciplines that are potentially relevant to our topic.
C) identifying the key elements of each insight so that we can locate points of conflict between them.
D) identifying whether the problem is complex enough to justify an interdisciplinary response.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Possessing disciplinary adequacy is having

A) A multidisciplinary understanding of a complex topic.
B) What you need to know about an unfamiliar discipline in order to draw upon its insights and critically analyze them.
C) An interdisciplinary understanding of a complex topic.
D) Sufficient depth in a discipline to write an article for a disciplinary journal.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

To "critically analyze" requires being

A) critical of expert evidence and to look only for points of agreement.
B) critical of expert evidence and to look for points of conflict and their sources.
C) critical of interdisciplinary fields.
D) All answers are correct

Answer 3

B

Question 4

From the following table


-It is possible to deduce that
a. The student is investigating terrorism, and is beginning STEP 5 of the Broad Model.
b. The student is investigating terrorism, and is beginning STEP 1 of the Broad Model.
c. The student is reflecting on the interdisciplinary process.

Question 5

From the following table


-We may also deduce that:

A) Psychology is the only discipline relevant to this examination.
B) Psychology is the first insight captured on the table that we can see.
C) The project is too narrow for interdisciplinary examination.

Question 6

Consider the following: "A key guiding principle of interdisciplinary analysis is that no piece of scholarly research is perfect. If we accept that no scholarly method can guide a researcher flawlessly towards insight, then it follows that scholarly results may reflect researcher biases. This does not mean that results reflect only such biases, as some in the field of science studies have claimed. But it does mean that one way of evaluating the insights generated by research is to interrogate researcher bias" (Szostak, 2009, p. 331).
From this we can infer the following about scholarly research:
1) No scholarly research is perfect because it is skewed by predispositions and biases.
2) Research is a matter of mere opinion or flawed approach.
3) All researchers, including interdisciplinary researchers, should be transparent in their biases.
4) Researcher bias should be included in the criteria we use to evaluate our own work, as well as the work of others.

A) Statements 1, 3, and 4 are correct.
B) Statements 1, 2, and 3 are correct.
C) Only statement 2 is correct.
D) No statements are correct.

Question 7

When attempting to identify the author's disciplinary affiliation, you should

A) Read the article and make a guess as the disciplinary affiliation based on the dominant perspective in the article.
B) Research the author's name and institution to try to find a research agenda or C.V. (academic resume) as this may mention the author's qualifications.
C) Exclude any article where the disciplinary affiliation of the author is unclear.

Question 8

Evidence is mounting that traditional ways of knowing, of generating knowledge, and of framing public discourse about the great issues of our time are no longer adequate. Interdisciplinarity is an idea whose time has come. This statement suggests that:

A) Interdisciplinarity is a new idea.
B) Interdisciplinary approaches are applicable beyond the classroom.
C) Interdisciplinary approaches are being replaced by traditional ways of knowing.

Question 9

Being critical of expert evidence means

A) being aware that some disciplines are more important than others.
B) being aware that the factual information presented by the author may be "skewed" and understanding the implications of this bias.
C) Being aware of interdisciplinary articles and treating them with skepticism.

Question 10

Integration consists not of adding different or similar things together but of

A) Compromising between the findings.
B) Finding the best explanation and going with that discipline.
C) Reducing difference and conflict by creating common ground between insights.

Question 11

There are 6 steps of the Broad Model. Name them in order.

Question 12

Read the following: Complex Problem: "Should schools adopt computer-assisted education for young children?"
Article Summaries
Article 1: Psychology (Learning Theory).
The National Research Council (NRC) is the research arm of the National Academy of Sciences, a private, nonprofit scholarly society that advises the federal government in scientific and technical matters. Its study "How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School" argues that computer-assisted education can enhance learning (Bradsford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999). The supportive evidence used by the NRC includes references to state-of-the art learning software and several experimental projects such as GLOBE, which gathered data from students in over 2,000 schools in 34 countries (Bradsford et al., 1999).
Article 2: Education.
The Alliance for Childhood, a partnership of individuals and organizations, issued a report, "Fool's Gold: A Critical Look at Computers in Childhood", that subsequently appeared in a leading education journal. The report argues that computer assisted education does not benefit young children. This view, a matter of heated debate within the profession, was nevertheless included in the Education Department's own 1999 study of nine troubled schools in high poverty areas, as well as extensive references to studies by leading education experts, including Stanford Professor (Education) Larry Cuban, theorist John Dewey, Austrian innovator Rudolf Steiner, and MIT Professor Sherry Turkel (Alliance for Childhood, 1999).
These insights demonstrate how:
1) disciplines or profession amass and present evidence that reflects its preferred research methodology and the kind of evidence that it considers reliable
2) experts omit evidence that they consider outside the scope of their discipline or profession. "Facts," then, are not always what they appear to be. They reflect only what the discipline and its community of experts are interested in.
3) it is easy to be seduced by the data when you happen to agree with the author's position on the issue.
"4) you must be aware of an author's discipline, analyze carefully the kind of evidence the author privileges, and know how the author uses that evidence.
Which of the statements above may be inferred from the article summaries above informed by your reading of CH12 ?"

A) Statements 1, 2, and 3 are correct.
B) Statements 1 and 4 are correct.
C) All the statements are correct.
D) None of the statements is correct.

Question 13

If you can understand the perspective of each relevant discipline; read the insights; identify the theory on which the insight is based, and identify the appropriateness of the method the author uses, you are demonstrating:

A) Interdisciplinarity
B) Critical Thinking
C) Disciplinary Adequacy
D) Multidisciplinarity

Question 14

Saying that the factual information presented by disciplines may be "skewed" means that

A) The data are falsified or sloppily gathered or presented in a biased way.
B) Disciplines often omit certain kinds of facts and data because they are interested in certain kinds of questions and amass data to answer these questions.
C) Disciplinary knowledge is unsound.
D) None of the above is correct.

Question 15

There are 4 questions that should be answered as you complete STEP 6: Reflect on How an Interdisciplinary Approach Has Enlarged Your Understanding of the Problem.
Name 3 of them.

Question 16

"Critically Analyze the Disciplinary Insights Into the Problem"

A) Is Step 6 of the Broad Model.
B) Is Step 5 of the Broad Model.
C) Is Step 4 of the Broad Model.
D) Is not a step in the Broad Model.

Question 17

There are three proven strategies for critically analyzing disciplinary insights and locating their sources of conflict. Name two of them:

Question 18

There are 9 key elements that you should be looking for as you read each insight in STEP 5. Name 5 of them: