Deck 7: Thinking Critically About Disciplinary Perspectives

Question 1

When choosing disciplines to carry out interdisciplinary research on a particular problem, you should consider

A) The disciplines that you know most about
B) The disciplines that are from the Natural Sciences
C) The disciplines that study phenomena connected with the chosen complex problem

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Which of the following statements about disciplinary perspective is correct?

A) It is enough to know the perspective of each discipline on the problem in a general sense and to know how these perspectives illumine some aspect of the problem.
B) Interdisciplinarians need to know the strengths and weaknesses of different disciplinary perspectives and this may only become apparent when the perspectives are juxtaposed.
C) It is not necessary to know the strengths and limitations of disciplinary perspectives.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

To interrogate in an interdisciplinary sense means to

A) practice critical pluralism by asking critical and probing questions of each relevant discipline.
B) decide whether a disciplinary perspective is true or false
C) choose which discipline is the most correct

Answer 3

A

Question 4

If you wanted to study the decline of the salmon population in a particular waterway, you should

A) Consider the phenomena studied by potentially relevant disciplines, then choose the best discipline
B) Identify which discipline studies the phenomena involved in this complex problem and study its insights.
C) Make sure that the disciplines you choose cover all the aspects of the problem and how they interact with other aspects, since each component of the problem may draw on different disciplinary insights.

Question 5

Critical pluralism is a sophisticated epistemic positions
a. True
b. False

Question 6

Multiplicity is a key feature of interdisciplinary studies when working with conflicting insights coming out of different disciplinary perspectives. It means that you

A) believe only one disciplinary perspective is necessary
B) consider many perspectives but do not integrate them
C) experience several plausible yet contradictory explanations of the same phenomenon as opposed to one simple, clear-cut, unambiguous explanation

Question 7

When interrogating a discipline's perspective on a complex problem one should

A) Identify the discipline's perspective, consider how each discipline's perspective illumines the problem as a whole, and consider strengths and weaknesses of each perspective.
B) Identify the best discipline's bias, consider how that discipline's perspective illumines the problem as a whole, and consider its strengths and weaknesses.
C) Identify the discipline's bias, consider how each discipline's perspective illumines the problem as a whole, and consider strengths of the dominant discipline's perspective.

Question 8

When conducting an interdisciplinary analysis of a poem such as "Refugee Blues', by W.H. Auden (this is a poem about the plight of those seeking asylum before and during WW2) we should

A) Use only English Literature as the chosen disciplinary perspective.
B) Consider reading a biography of W.H. Auden to give us some ideas.
C) Consider English Literature combined with perspectives from History, Geography, Political Science, and Psychology.

Question 9

What are the three common epistemic positions discussed in chapter 7?

A) Critical pluralism, dualism, and relative thinking
B) Critical pluralism, dualism, and relativism
C) Critical pluralism, dual logic, and relative thinking

Question 10

Dualists

A) believe that knowledge is objective, certain, and absolute.
B) believe that knowledge is relative.
C) believe that knowledge depends on the situation.

Question 11

Critical Pluralists

A) believe that there is no such thing as objective knowledge and view beliefs, theories, and values as inherently relative, contingent, and contextual
B) believe that knowledge is objective, certain, and absolute.
C) accept the pluralism of relativism without drawing the relativist conclusion that "anything goes."

Question 12

Dualism and relativism are simplistic epistemic positions
a. True
b. False

Question 13

Interdisciplinarians are interested in viewing the subject from the perspectives of potentially relevant disciplines for six reasons. Name 4 of these reasons.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Question 14

In "The Fable of the Blind Men and the Elephant" . [Period inside quote mark]

A) The elephant is a critical pluralist
B) The elephant is a dualist
C) The men are disciplinary reductivists

Question 15

When different disciplinary perspectives conflict, we should

A) Reject those that do not cohere with other disciplinary perspectives.
B) Choose another disciplinary perspective.
C) Understand that conflict among perspectives can occur as part of the interdisciplinary research process.

Question 16

Perspective taking

A) Is a key feature of interdisciplinarity
B) Is necessitated by complexity
C) Both "a" and "b" are correct

Question 17

Relativists

A) believe that there is no such thing as objective knowledge and view beliefs, theories, and values as inherently relative, contingent, and contextual
B) believe that knowledge is objective, certain, and absolute.
C) accept the pluralism of relativism without drawing the relativist conclusion that "anything goes."

Question 18

Because different disciplines will have relevant perspectives on complex problems and these perspectives will reflect the discipline's perspective

A) It is important to consider the perspectives of the different disciplines to ensure you have considered how it illumines different parts of the problem
B) It is important to choose only disciplines that you know enough about to use the perspective effectively
C) It is important to choose disciplines whose perspectives you agree with.

Question 19

A sophisticated epistemic position is necessary when engaged in interdisciplinary research because

A) The answer to the problem is sophisticated
B) The multiple disciplinary insights consulted cannot be assessed as simply "true" or "false" but rather incomplete views on the complex problem being considered.
C) It is possible that all of the disciplinary insights must be integrated and then separated into their respective phenomena.

Question 20

The fact that the environment is a complex system where the factors addressed by one discipline are affected by factors addressed by other disciplines means that

A) Several disciplines are relevant in the examination of the environment
B) Perspective taking is needed to enable us to see which disciplines are relevant to this inquiry.
C) Both "a" and "b" are correct

Question 21

When considering the challenges faced by social security and Medicare as an interdisciplinary problem, you would approach this problem first by:

A) Considering a list of disciplines whose perspectives will illumine different aspects of the complex problem, such as economics, sociology, mathematics, and political science
B) Consider a list of disciplines in the Natural Sciences as their disciplinary perspectives are the most important to this complex problem
C) First consider all the different components of this complex problem before thinking about which disciplinary perspectives might illumine each component.

Question 22

Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of a disciplinary perspective means that you can

A) Not use this discipline if the perspective is weak
B) Understand that different complex problems will need different perspectives, and that each disciplinary perspective is only a partial illumination of the problem.
C) Concentrate on eliminating all the weak disciplinary perspectives after you have completed a list of disciplinary perspectives you will consult for your complex problem.

Question 23

Limitations in a disciplinary perspective mean that

A) the insights of the discipline are skewed by the way each author (disciplinary expert) defines the problem, and the interdisciplinarian must acknowledge this in her or his research
B) the insights of the discipline are confused by the way each author (disciplinary expert) defines the problem, and the interdisciplinarian must acknowledge this in her or his research
C) Limitations in a disciplinary perspective have no bearing on interdisciplinary research.