Assessing predictors of academician's values, practice, and perceived barriers with interdisciplinarity

This study sought to identify institutional and professional factors that would act as predictors of college faculty values towards, practice of, or perceptions of barriers with interdisciplinarity. This was done by using the Interdisciplinary Attitudes Survey 2 (IAS-2) to assess the values towards, practice of, and perceptions of barriers to interdisciplinarity of 110 college and university faculty members. Participants were recruited from two list services focused on college faculty and seven universities and colleges, who granted permission for recruitment of members of the faculty. Participants completed the IAS-2 via the online survey hosting site, Survey Monkey. Once the data was collected, six multiple regression analysis were run comparing institutional factors, professional factors to the IAS-2 scales measuring values towards, practice of, and perceptions of barriers to interdisciplinarity. The analysis controlled for demographic participant data via the inclusion of three covariates. The results indicated that the institutional factors of the institution's research emphasis, the organization's private or public status, and the profit status of the institution do not act as predictors of university or college faculty values towards, practice of, or perceptions of barriers with interdisciplinarity. The professional factors of the highest level of degree held by participants, number of degrees held by participants, faculty rank held by participants, tenure status of participants, years the participants have held current faculty position, and teaching level predict higher levels of the practice of interdisciplinarity. Additionally the covariates of age and ethnicity, independent of the institutional and professional factors, predicted both higher values toward and practice of interdisciplinarity. This may suggest that personal factors of college and university faculty are more important than institutional and professional factors to values towards, practice of, or perceptions of barriers with interdisciplinarity among college and university faculty.