What is the Work-Family Area of Study What is the Work-Family Area of Study? Module 2, Class 1 A Teaching Module Developed by the Curriculum Task Force of the Sloan Work and Family Research Network

How does the multi-disciplinary nature of the work-family field contribute to the knowledge base? What is knowledge? What is the knowledge base?

What disciplines have contributed to the work-family area of study? Anthropology Business & Management Economics Education Family and Children’s Studies Gerontology Industrial Relations Law Medicine Political Science Psychology Social Work Sociology Women’s Studies

What is multi-disciplinarity? Determined by the degree to which the knowledge has been generated from scholars trained in the theory, empirical studies, and methods of different disciplines

Advantages and challenges of multi-disciplinarity Rich understandings emerge Work-family issues become more salient in the academy Difficulty keeping up with publications outside own discipline Difficult to establish networks of scholars

Accessing the work-family knowledge base Challenges: Scholarly databases organized by discipline Need to search multiple databases * Sloan Network’s Literature Database- Contains work-family literature from multiple disciplines.

History of the Work-family Area of Study 1977 Kanter monograph: Work and family in the United States: A critical review and agenda for research and policy “Institutionalized” as a distinct area of scholarship Identifiable and distinct focus Founded on theory, connected to empirical research Structures established for building knowledge Community of knowledge builders

Work-Family Timelines The Sloan Network website hosts several timelines of the work-family area of study: http://wfnetwork.bc.edu/template.php?name=wftimelines

Connections between Theory and Research (and Research and Theory) Theory Used to Formulate Research Questions and Guide Selection/ Measurement of Variables Findings of Research Contribute to Theory Building or Refinement of Existing Theory Theory Subsequent Research Replicates Earlier Studies and Confirms, Refines, or Refutes Earlier Findings. Theory used to help interpret findings.