As a part of the Springer Nature Social Science Survey in 2017 we asked our participants for their thoughts on the impact, interdisciplinarity and role of social science.
Reviewing the results from 491 participants we found some interesting results, from 61% saying that it was difficult to communicate research outside of their own discipline, to only 14% saying that they found conducting interdisciplinary research to be problem-free. Optimistically, though, 41% of our participants say that they believe in the importance of collaboration across disciplines when trying to influence policy, with another 41% telling us that social science plays an essential role in seeking solutions to the global grand challenges, such as tackling climate change, improving global health and ensuring long-term supplies of food, water and energy.