Interdisciplinary Research is a mode of research that integrates information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives, concepts, and/or theories from two or more disciplines or bodies of specialized knowledge to advance fundamental understanding or to solve problems whose solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline or area of research practice.
The chart below, adopted from John C. Bean's Engaging Ideas, helps differentiate different types of inquiry and research:
| Type of Inquiry | Explanation | What to expect in the Literature | Example |
| Empirical Research | Disciplinary knowledge & procedures are used to advance empirical understanding of the world. | Articles with an Experimental Research Report and IMRD (introductions methods, results, discussion) | Scientific Article from ScienceDirect |
| Problem Solving Research | Professionals use disciplinary knowledge and procedures to solve real-world problems for a targeted client. | Practical proposals to solve a problem | White paper or article found in Business Source Complete or educational brochure such as ones created by the CO Foundation for Water Education |
| Interpretive/Theoretical Research | Researchers interpret documents/artifacts/cultural phenomena through various theoretical lenses with expectations that problems will be continuously debated rather than “solved”. | Disciplinary journal article (no clear structural template) | A book chapter found using the catalog or journal article from JSTOR that interprets/analyzes primary source documents |
