This study explores why interdisciplinary collaborations succeed or fail. We used
Tannen’s (1993) discourse method of frame analysis to uncover individuals’
implicit assumptions toward interdisciplinary collaboration and mapped these
expectations to one of three stages in Amey & Brown’s (2004) model of
interdisciplinary team development. In analyzing meetings between an
established team and four potential collaborators, we found that potential
collaborators who interacted with the team at their current stage of development
engaged in long-term collaborations, while others interacted at an earlier stage
and were not asked to join the team. The findings can guide academic
researchers in becoming better interdisciplinary collaborators.