How do you bring together researchers from widely varying disciplines who all want to research the same issues and use the same data? A new institute at Duke may soon make it a little easier.
Administrators and faculty members are currently planning the facility, designed to encourage collaborative work in the social sciences, for researchers across departments ranging from economics to psychology.
Current discussions are preliminary, but chairs in the social science departments began meeting this summer to discuss the institute. By next summer, they hope to designate a temporary space where social science researchers can share data, research together and interact on a daily basis.
"The idea of the institute is to see what needs the social sciences might have and to facilitate that particular work, especially work across disciplines," said Karla Holloway, dean of the humanities and social sciences.
The institute comes just a year after the opening of the John Hope Franklin Center for Interdisciplinary and International Studies, which facilitates collaborative work across fields, especially in the humanities. The Franklin Center has attracted several teaching and research groups, including the African and African-American Studies Program, but Holloway envisions something unique for the social sciences.
"Social sciences has different kinds of needs in technology, different needs in infrastructure, different needs in research methods and vocabulary," she said. "While the Franklin Center is an important model for collaborative work, it's necessary for the social sciences to find their own model for work across disciplines."
While administrators develop that model, they must also find space as it becomes increasingly scarce. East and West Campuses are virtually full, and space elsewhere may not be available any time soon. In the interim, Holloway said the institute will begin in off-campus space as early as next summer.
Whatever the location, Holloway hopes that the institute will be a center for data-sharing, research groups and various symposia, especially on issues of race and gender. She said the center may offer fellowships similar to those at the Franklin Center.
"I think it presents a good opportunity to collaborate further, a good opportunity for interdisciplinary research, and a way to share common infrastructure and resources that speak to research needs," said Kenneth Spenner, chair of the sociology department. "You can achieve economies of scale and scope by pooling resources that often cannot be had in individual departments."
For example, Spenner cited data gathered from phone surveys that could be shared among researchers from different departments. The social sciences has done that to some extent with the establishment of a center for census data research in the Social Sciences Building, but the new institute would offer expanded research opportunities and more space.
Such collaboration is not easy within the broadly defined social science disciplines, but it helps to have a small group focused on a specific topic and working in a defined space, said Susan Roth, chair of the social and health sciences psychology department.
"I think people speak different languages. They are tied to different research methods and different paradigms, and I think the convergence is very difficult," she said.
"Proximity to one another really does make a difference, but it's also a way of institutionalizing an idea. There are always hallway conversations, and that's a big part of our lives," Roth said.
Like the Franklin Center, the social sciences research institute may also house smaller programs in specific areas, such as the Center for Child and Family Policy. The center started three years ago as a physical and scholarly meeting point for disciplines concerned with health, education and other issues facing families. Now located in the Sanford Institute, the center may need more space.
"What's complicated about it is that faculty wear many hats," said Kenneth Dodge, director of the center and William McDougell professor of public policy. "We teach, so we need to be near students. We're members of departments, so we need to be near them. And we're also members of research teams and need to be near research space. Right now, there's not interdisciplinary space."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.