New Directions in the Sociology of Aging (2013) / Chapter Skim
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4 Roadblocks and Bridges to Transdisciplinary Research
4 Roadblocks and Bridges to Transdisciplinary Research
Pages 56-66
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From page 56... ...
. As the issues that scientists and scholars investigate in their study of aging increase in complexity, the need for research teams -- and the institutional infrastructure to support those teams -- also increases.
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From page 57... ...
But for fundamental and complex social issues such as aging, broad transdisciplinary work has become imperative. The collaborative and synergistic aging research being done by scholars from many disciplines and often from multiple institutions (such as the work being done at the University of Chicago and at Harvard University, discussed below as examples of bridges to transdisciplinary research)
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From page 58... ...
Large, complex projects with federal or foundation funding present challenges to grants management, need for research resources and administrative support, and cost sharing. Assigning and carrying costs for transdisciplinary work constitute a substantial hurdle in institutions designed to channel internal resources through disciplinary departments.
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From page 59... ...
Significant development of scholars occurs in the separate professional societies, such as the American Sociological Association. Professional societies' conferences, sections, workshops, and publications are core institutional venues that facilitate scholarly growth.
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From page 60... ...
Journals and professional societies are giving attention to and creating opportunities for sharing transdisciplinary research findings. Some funders are supporting transdisciplinary research and creating stepping stones for transdisciplinary career tracks.
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From page 61... ...
Specific topics pursued by the center's research teams range widely, from genetic expression of social experiences to posttraumatic stress syndrome among military veterans. All the research projects share a common characteristic: research teams that are deliberately transdisciplinary.
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From page 62... ...
The Arete Initiative advises researchers attempting to build research teams, define projects, pursue funds, broker collaborative arrangements, and manage the budgets, staff, logistics, and operating norms of extensive projects. The Arete initiative has provided both impetus and crucial guidance for transdisciplinary research teams addressing on complex questions.
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From page 63... ...
With shared administrative cores, these offer one mechanism through which research teams and topics can incorporate a number of disciplines. For example, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities has announced a program to establish specialized Transdisciplinary Collaborative Centers for Health Disparities Research that support transdisciplinary coalitions of academic institutions, community organizations, service providers and systems, government agencies, 3 ee S http://www.macfound.org/networks [April 2012]
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From page 64... ...
4 A number of NIH component organizations, including NIA, have come together to sponsor research applications on fatigue and fatigability in aging with the specific intention of promoting "research studies employing transdisciplinary approaches that could lead to increased understanding of mechanisms contributing to, assessment of, or potential interventions for, increased fatigue or fatigability in older persons."5 Funding at the early stages of transdisciplinary research can be particularly difficult to obtain. The NIA-funded Centers on the Demography and Economics of Aging, which are interdisciplinary by design, have provided significant funding for pilot projects.
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From page 65... ...
Given that NIA center grants and the training provided in those centers is transdisciplinary, these training grants provide an important foundation for junior scholars who will define and carry out the research, both disciplinary and transdisciplinary, on the sociology, social demography, and social epidemiology of aging. Whereas datasets like HRS, MIDUS, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, and the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study create research opportunities for new generations of scholars, they also provide rich opportunities for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty to learn about how surveys are done, how research questions are developed, and how scholars seek external funding to support these projects.
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From page 66... ...
Recommendation 5. The National Institute on Aging should encour age universities and research organizations to intentionally promote transdisciplinary research by: • educing institutional barriers to transdisciplinary research and R interdisciplinary research teams.
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