Deck 11: Identifying Relevant Disciplines and Gathering Information About the Problem

Question 1

When conducting a literature review,

A) You craft the question so that it conveys the focus of the study in an easy to understand sentence or two.
B) You define the scope or boundaries of the study and characterize the study as interdisciplinary.
C) You answer the "so what?" question.
D) You are looking for insights related to your research topic from different disciplinary perspectives.
E) None of the above is correct.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

You identify Environmental Studies as a relevant discipline in your examination of the complex problem of climate change. Since this is an interdisciplinary field, you should

A) Not include this interdisciplinary field in your exploration.
B) Consult journals associated with Environment Studies as interdisciplinary fields have their own journals and scholarly organizations.
C) Include Environmental Studies in your investigation but not include it in your table for Step 4.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Considering the complex problem of whether natural gas should replace coal as a fuel source for electricity production, you identify environmental and public policy issues and connect it to the disciplines of Earth science and biology because they focus on the environment, and political science because it focuses on the process of passing environmental legislation and enforcing regulations. The disciplines of Earth science, biology, and political science are

A) Potentially relevant.
B) Definitely relevant.
C) Irrelevant.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Some "rules of thumb" to help you perform Step 3 are:

A) Think through the research question yourself and attempt to identify its main parts.
B) Develop familiarity with the phenomena that disciplines typically study.
C) Be inclusive, erring on the side of identifying as many potentially relevant disciplines as possible.
D) All these answers are correct.

Question 5

Why is it helpful to develop a data management system for your Literature Review?

A) It permits easy retrieval of critical information from the insights you are analyzing
B) It helps track the overall progress of your research,
C) It helps you keep the research question clearly in mind
D) All the above are correct

Question 6

STEP 3 begins with identifying disciplines that are potentially relevant to the problem and ends with

A) a solution to the problem
B) identifying a dominant discipline
C) identifying a few disciplines that are the most relevant
D) none of the above

Question 7

In an examination of domestic violence, you find only one article on the problem from a psychological perspective, but many from sociology. You should assume from this discovery that:

A) Sociology is more relevant than psychology in this investigation.
B) Psychology has written nothing important about this topic and should be dropped from your research.
C) The one article produced by psychology on the problem may contain information of such significance that an interdisciplinary understanding of the problem that is truly comprehensive would not be possible without it.

Question 8

Steps 3 and 4 are closely related because

A) The author identifies the dominant discipline in Step 3 and confirms this in Step 4.
B) The author identifies the best discipline potentially relevant to the problem in Step 3 and confirms this in Step 4.
C) The author narrows disciplines to those that are most relevant and explains the basis for doing so in Step 3 and confirms the identity of the disciplines and their insights that are most relevant to the problem in Step 4.

Question 9

If you find it difficult to locate disciplinary insights when conducting a literature review, you should

A) Change your research question.
B) Give up on that particular discipline.
C) Consider using different search terms as the terminology may be different among disciplines.

Question 10

A discipline is potentially relevant if the problem falls within its research domain but it is not known whether the discipline's experts have written about the problem. If they have not (and the literature search will reveal this), then the discipline is not relevant (although more advanced researchers might still consider such a discipline). If the discipline's experts have produced one or more insights into the problem, then the discipline is relevant. This description accurately describes what you are trying to determine in:

A) Step 4 - Conduct the Literature Review
B) Step 3 - Identify Relevant Disciplines
C) Step 2 - Justify an Interdisciplinary Response
D) Step 1 - Define the Problem or State the Research Question

Question 11

Examine this diagram: This diagram helps us to:

A) Narrow our research question, as this topic is much too broad.
B) Consider a biological perspective only.
C) Consider a multidisciplinary perspective.
D) Raise questions about the problem that may not have been previously apparent by considering both internal and external factors.

Question 12

Performing STEP 3 involves taking four actions. Name three of them

Question 13

When conducting a Literature Review, it is important to pay attention to the disciplinary source of insights because

A) This information will be important when analyzing the insights in Step 5.
B) This information will reveal disciplinary dominance.
C) This information is not important.

Question 14

What are the first four steps in the Broad Model?

A) Justify an interdisciplinary response; Identify a problem or define a research question; Identify relevant disciplines; Complete a literature review
B) Identify a problem or define a research question; Justify an interdisciplinary response; Identify relevant disciplines; Complete a literature review
C) Complete a literature review; Justify an interdisciplinary response; Identify a problem or define a research question; Identify relevant disciplines
D) Identify a problem or define a research question; Justify an interdisciplinary response; Identify relevant disciplines; Complete a reflection

Question 15

What is Step 4 of the Broad Model ?

A) Reflect on the Interdisciplinary Process
B) Analyze Insights.
C) Conduct a Literature Search

Question 16

Consider the following problem: "What is the meaning of the growing popularity of action super heroes in media?" What disciplines are potentially relevant to this examination based on the phenomena they study?

A) philosophy, anthropology (particularly the subdiscipline of cultural anthropology), and history.
B) art and music history.
C) anthropology and philosophy, but not history.
D) physics and biology.

Question 17

When considering the complex problem of teen apathy toward learning, you identify possible research domains of education and psychology because these disciplines study phenomena relevant to your topic. These two disciplines are

A) Potentially relevant.
B) Definitely relevant.
C) Irrelevant.

Question 18

Skimming the disciplinary literature may guide you to narrow the focus of your research question. This is an action that should be performed as part of

A) Step 2 - Justify an Interdisciplinary Response.
B) Step 3 - Identify Relevant Disciplines
C) Step 4 - Conduct a Literature Review
D) None of the above is correct.

Question 19

What is the third step in the Broad Model?

A) Identify Relevant Disciplines
B) Reflect on Steps 1 and 2
C) Conduct a Literature Review
D) Identify Relevant Disciplines