The Role of Motivating Faculty Members in their Tendency to Interdisciplinary Studies

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of motivating faculty members in their tendency to interdisciplinary studies.

This study was applied in terms of purpose and nature and descriptive-correlational in terms of data collection. The statistical population of the study included all faculty members of Urmia University and Urmia University of Technology in the academic year of 2014-2015, numbering 585 people,using Morgan table and proportional stratified random sampling method, 212 people were selected as  the sample. The standard questionnaire of internal and external motivation and the researcher-made questionnaire of interdisciplinary studies were used to collect data. In this study, to determine the validity of the internal and external motivation questionnaire, content validity and confirmatory factor analysis were used; to determine the validity of the interdisciplinary studies questionnaire, content validity and exploratory factor analysis were used; and  to determine their reliability  Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used, which  ​​were calculated in the mentioned questionnaires  as 0.80 and 0.77, respectively. Descriptive and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation, multiple regression and one-way analysis of variance) were used to analyze the data.

Findings showed that there is a significant relationship between intrinsic motivation and tendency to interdisciplinary studies, but the relationship between extrinsic motivation and tendency to interdisciplinary studies is not significant. The relationship between the specified rules and the tendency to intermediate studies is significant, but the relationship between lack of motivation and the tendency to interdisciplinary studies is not statistically significant. Based on the results of multiple regression analysis, only intrinsic motivation could predict the tendency of faculty members to interdisciplinary studies.

Based on the Research findings, it is suggested to use incentives to encourage faculty members to participate in interdisciplinary activities.