Factors for Cross-disciplinary Research Collaboration: Experiences of Researchers at the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, UKM

Cross-disciplinary research is a research activity that involves researchers of multiple disciplines in studying new knowledge. Cross-disciplinary research extends beyond simple collaboration to integrate data, methodologies, perspectives and concepts from various fields to understand the basics or find the solution for real world problems. The approach of cross-disciplinary research taken at the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment (FKAB), in transforming the researcher, is still deem to be at its minimum because there has yet to be a study on unravelling the difficulties and challenges of reinforcing cross-disciplinary research. Furthermore, the absence of a guideline for conducting such research prohibits the researcher to pursue his research into different discipline. The purpose of this paper is to examine the challenge and difficulty factors that contribute to the less than effective cross-disciplinary researches at the FKAB in particular, and in UKM in general. In addition, through the conducted data analysis, a preliminary guideline can be formed, which can then be used as a guide and resource to develop awareness and capability in implementing cross-disciplinary research. The study was conducted using qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative method taken was distributing a questionnaire to academicians at the FKAB. Data obtained are then analysed using WinSteps 3.68.2, which is software utilised in Rasch analysis. Overall, results show that the main factor contributing to difficulties in implementing cross-disciplinary research is the need for solid financial funding.