ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to elaborate the challenging process of interdisciplinary work. It addresses different phases of interdisciplinary work: being an expert, cross-disciplinary learning, and integrating knowledge. The "interdisciplinary work" refers to two types of activities: research and professional work. The chapter addresses interdisciplinary mainly in terms of a biopsychosocial approach that includes many disciplines or professions. It focuses on the theory/practice ensemble by emphasizing a close connection among explanations, intervention, and predictions anchored in the ontology and epistemology of critical realism. In the social world, intervention is closely related to the possibility to make predictions. The chapter argues that critical realism provides knowledge that makes it possible to make reliable predictions, but this requires an interdisciplinary approach. It also argues that it is possible to make at least approximate predictions on the individual level regarding actions and other forms of outcomes of interventions.
