Interdisciplinarity research results from a growing need for multi-perspective methods, and knowledge on complex and multifaceted objects of study. It is not simply scientific research that involves several disciplines, but ultimately, the aim is confronting this knowledge and – if possible – articulating it coherently. Using specific examples, Methods and Interdisciplinarity categorizes the different modes of interdisciplinarity and discusses the mechanisms of hybridization between them. On the one hand, the book shows how the same issue can be treated according to various points of view from several disciplines, which can give rise to complementary or even contradictory knowledge. On the other hand, it illustrates how methods from some disciplines make it possible to articulate the qualitative or quantitative approaches of others.

Roger Waldeck is Associate Professor at IMT Atlantic and a member of the Laboratoire d’Économie et de Gestion de l’Ouest (LEGO), France. His current research focuses on modeling methodologies for complex social systems.