Appendix B: Interdisciplinary Research Rubric
2002-07 Assessment Committee: Bruce Burgett, Bruce Kochis, Ron Krabill, Suzan Parker,
Becca Price, Becky Rosenberg, Bill Seaburg, Eric Stewart, Rob Turner.
Interdisciplinary Research (IR) Learning Objective:
The IAS program offers students multiple opportunities to understand and practice research
across traditional areas of knowledge and modes of inquiry. We help students think critically
and creatively about how to generate and contextualize complex research questions, conduct
research by identifying and utilizing appropriate sources and methods, and present research in
a form that best suits the intended audience(s). We also foster critical and creative reflection
on ethical questions raised by problem- and inquiry-based interdisciplinary research that
connects diverse academic and/or non-academic sectors.
For reference, here are the critical thinking (CT) and collaboration and shared leadership (CSL)
learning objectives:
CT: The IAS program offers students multiple opportunities to acquire and hone the cognitive
processes and attitudinal qualities characteristic of advanced critical thinking. We help
students to develop the creative and self-reflexive habits of mind associated with inquiry- and
research-based critical thinking by focusing on diverse (written, performative, visual, and
material) practices of interpretation, analysis, argumentation, application, synthesis, and
evaluation. We foster attitudinal qualities that generate in students a willingness to consider
and assess multiple perspectives, draw informed conclusions, and value intellectual exploration
and risk taking.
CSL: The IAS program offers students multiple opportunities to develop effective
collaboration and shared leadership skills. We help students hone the capacities needed to
accomplish tasks in diverse group contexts. This includes the ability to work with others to
identify dimensions of a project; to generate and refine ideas related to a project; to appreciate
and draw on group members’ multiple histories, strengths, and potential contributions; to
follow through on the consequences of collective decisions; and to work on specific tasks
without losing a sense of the whole. We also foster competencies associated with shared
leadership, including the ability to listen emphatically; to mediate conflict and act for the
common good of the group; to encourage and participate in multiple forms of individual and
group communication; to tolerate ambiguity within emerging processes; to share roles flexibly;
and to reflect critically and creatively on collaboration processes.
2
IAS Assessment Process and Rubric for IR:
Directions to Assessment Committee: You have packets containing two sources of information
on which to base your ratings: 1) The student’s two-page reflective essay in which s/he
describes and identifies the attitudes and cognitive processes that s/he has acquired and/or
honed through the IAS program with respect to interdisciplinary research; 2) The two projects
submitted by the student as evidence of his/her learning with regard to interdisciplinary
research. You are being asked to consider both the projects and reflection on them as you
evaluate the alignment between the student’s learning and the specific interdisciplinary
research capacities identified in the general statement above and the rubrics listed below.
A) After reading the projects and reflection, please assess the student’s capacity for conducting
and evaluating their own interdisciplinary research. Please use the sub-ratings rubric below to
assist you in making your assessment.
Scant
1
2
3
Substantially Developed
4
5
B) Please subdivide your overall rating with regard to the following characteristics. (Write
“n/a” for any question that does not apply to a given set of portfolio assignments):
1) The student demonstrates the ability to generate and justify a research question/problem/
topic.
Scant
1
2
3
Does not pose and/or
contextualize a clear or sensible
question. Does not account for
the feasibility of the research to be
undertaken and its relation to the
question at hand. Fails to
distinguish among the scope and
significance of different types of
questions.
Substantially Developed
4
5
Poses and justifies a challenging
question with appropriate
development/contextualization.
Accounts for the feasibility of the
scope and scale of the research
undertaken. Organizes subquestions and/or generates testable
hypotheses, as appropriate.
2) The student identifies and utilizes appropriate sources to address that question/problem/
topic.
Scant
1
2
Uncritically adopts sources
without making informed choices
among them. Fails to assess the
sources and their match to the
research proposed. Fails to
identify sources or follow any
citation guidelines.
3
Substantially Developed
4
5
Demonstrates a heightened
awareness of different types of
sources and makes informed
choices among them. Assesses the
quality of sources and their match
to the research proposed. All
sources are cited clearly.
3
3) The student identifies and utilizes appropriate methods to address that question/ problem/
topic.
Scant
1
2
3
Uncritically adopts one or more
methods. Demonstrates little or no
awareness of how to make choices
among different methods. Fails to
match methods to the research
proposed and/or enacts those
methods poorly.
Substantially Developed
4
5
Demonstrates a heightened
awareness of different types of
methods and makes informed
choices among them. Assesses the
fit between the method(s) used and
research proposed. Synthesizes or
combines different methods, as
appropriate. Enacts the chosen
methods well.
4) The student reflects critically and creatively on the potential and constraints of the
problem/question/topic posed and research conducted.
Scant
1
2
3
Demonstrates insufficient or
inaccurate awareness of the
limitations, significance, or
contexts of the research project.
Adopts a problem, question, or
topic uncritically. No articulation
of how research could have been
improved.
Substantially Developed
4
5
Demonstrates a heightened
awareness of the assumptions
embedded in the research project.
Reflects on the context of that
research, the constraints of
problem-definition, and/or the
emerging limitations and
possibilities of the research.
5) The student reflects critically and creatively on the usefulness and limitations of the
sources and methods used.
Scant
1
2
Demonstrates little or no
awareness of the limitations of the
sources and methods used. Fails
to distinguish between different
areas of knowledge and modes of
inquiry in appropriate and/or
generative ways.
3
Substantially Developed
4
5
Demonstrates an awareness of the
assumptions embedded in the
sources and methods used.
Matches those sources and
methods to areas of knowledge
and modes of inquiry in
appropriate and generative ways.
Distinguishes between different
methods and their relative
application, as appropriate.
4
6) The student transcends narrow disciplinary frameworks as s/he discusses the broader
significance of his/her research.
Scant
1
2
3
Fails to locate research choices,
practices, and findings in relation
to broader concerns.
Demonstrates little or no ability to
synthesize, integrate, and/or work
in and across different areas of
knowledge and modes of inquiry
Substantially Developed
4
5
Positions research choices and
practices in relation to broader
questions about how knowledge is
should be made and/or the impact
of that knowledge. Successfully
synthesizes, integrates, and/or
works in and across different areas
of knowledge and modes of
inquiry.
7) The student reflects critically and creatively on the presentational form of the research in
relation to its audience(s).1
Scant
1
2
Demonstrates little or no
awareness of the larger intellectual
and ethical significance of the
research process and product. No
apparent consideration of the
audience in choosing the
presentational form of the research
conducted. Does not evaluate the
effectiveness of the presentational
form of the project.
3
Substantially Developed
4
5
Demonstrates a heightened
awareness of the “so-what?” and
“what’s-next?” of the research
process and product. Considers
the audience(s) for and impact(s)
of research on others. Matches
presentational form to intended
audience(s) and reflects critically
on its impact(s).
The 2006-2007 assessment committee borrowed heavily from Veronica Boix-Mansilla’s work with the Harvard
Interdisciplinary Studies Project and the Washington Center’s 2006-08 National Project on Assessing Learning in
Learning Communities. Based on our survey of assignments submitted by the IAS faculty, our major revision
involved a shift from Boix-Mansilla’s emphasis on how (inter)disciplines drive and structure research questions to
our emphasis on how questions drive inquiry across and among (inter)disciplines. In general, the IAS
assignments placed more emphasis on student-driven choices in the research process and tended toward a more
problem-based approach to interdisciplinary research and its audience(s) than Boix-Mansilla found in her survey
of other institutions.
1