Biglan classification of academic disciplines as a framework for analyzing disciplinary variation in faculty work¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · 1 claim (1 mixed) · 1 study (1 associational), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description¶

The Biglan classification characterizes academic disciplines along three dimensions: pure/applied (degree of concern with application of disciplinary knowledge), hard/soft (degree of paradigm consensus), and life/nonlife (whether the discipline concerns living organisms). This study is the first to use it as a conceptual framework for publicly engaged scholarship, assigning each faculty member's department a Biglan code and extending the classification to 40 departments that postdate Biglan's 1973 scheme. The article notes disciplines have evolved since 1973 and interdisciplinary scholarship poses a challenge to the classification.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Departments must be assignable to Biglan dimensions based on application orientation, paradigm consensus, and living-organism emphasis; unclassified departments required researcher judgment and faculty advice.

Constraints¶

• The article states new fields, subdisciplines, and interdisciplinary scholarship are incongruent with the 1973 classification; for example physical versus cultural geographers would fall on opposite sides of all three dimensions.

Target Learners¶

• tenure-track faculty members undergoing reappointment, promotion, and tenure review

Target Learning Objectives¶

• understanding and documenting publicly engaged scholarship across faculty roles in research, teaching, service, and commercialized activities

Claims¶

• Student subject matter orientation differs significantly from faculty perceptions of departmental characteristics [~W]

Related Theories¶

• Biglan Four Dimension Department Classification

Examples¶

Key Sources¶

• Doberneck, D. M., & Schweitzer, J. H. (2017). Disciplinary Variations in Publicly Engaged Scholarship: An Analysis Using the Biglan Classification of Academic Disciplines. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 21(1). https://portal.issn.org/resource/ISSN/1534-6104