Journal article
Structural Equation Modeling Facilitates Transdisciplinary Research on Agriculture and Climate Change
Crop science, Vol.54(2), pp.475-483
03/01/2014
Abstract
Increasingly, funding agencies are investing in integrated and transdisciplinary research to tackle "grand challenge" priority areas, critical for sustaining agriculture and protecting the environment. Coordinating multidisciplinary research teams capable of addressing these priority areas, however, presents its own unique set of challenges, ranging from bridging across multiple disciplinary perspectives to achieve common questions and methods to facilitating engagement in holistic and integrative thinking that promotes linkages from scholarship to societal needs. We propose that structural equation modeling (SEM) can provide a powerful framework for synergizing multidisciplinary research teams around grand challenge issues. Structural equation modeling can integrate both visual and statistical expression of complex hypotheses at all stages of the research process, from planning to analysis. Three elements of the SEM framework are particularly beneficial to multidisciplinary research teams; these include (i) a common graphical language that transcends disciplinary boundaries, (ii) iterative, critical evaluation of complex hypotheses involving manifest and latent variables and direct and indirect interactions, and (iii) enhanced opportunities to discover unanticipated interactions or causal pathways as empirical data are tested statistically against the model. Using our ongoing multidisciplinary, multisite field investigation of climate change adaptation and mitigation in annual row crop agroecosystems as a case study, we demonstrate the value of the SEM framework for project design, coordination, and implementation and provide recommendations for its broader application as a means to more effectively engage and address issues of critical societal concern.
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Details
- Title
- Structural Equation Modeling Facilitates Transdisciplinary Research on Agriculture and Climate Change
- Creators
- Richard. G. Smith - University of New HampshireAdam S. Davis - Urbana UniversityNicholas R. Jordan - University of MinnesotaLesley W. Atwood - University of New HampshireAmanda B. Daly - University of New HampshireA. Stuart Grandy - University of New HampshireMitchell C. Hunter - Pennsylvania State UniversityRoger T. Koide - Brigham Young UniversityDavid A. Mortensen - Pennsylvania State UniversityPatrick Ewing - University of MinnesotaDaniel Kane - Michigan State UniversityMeng Li - University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignYi Lou - Illinois Department of Natural ResourcesSieglinde S. Snapp - Michigan State UniversityKurt A. Spokas - USDA ARS, Soil & Water Management Res Unit, St Paul, MN 55108 USAAnthony C. Yannarell - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- Publication Details
- Crop science, Vol.54(2), pp.475-483
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Number of pages
- 9
- Grant note
- New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station DGE1255832 / National Science Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF) 2011-67003-30343 / Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in Agriculture Grant from USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture 2011-67003-30343; 688460 / NIFA; United States Department of Agriculture (USDA); National Institute of Food and Agriculture
- Identifiers
- 99901397979101842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article