Interdisciplinary

Research – Opportunities
for Actuarial Profession

By A. Skučaitė, Lecturer, Vilnius university

Acknowledgment
 Part of this research was supported by
international projects BaltMob (Baltic
Mobility) and BaltMob II *
 Main goal of both projects – to bring
interdisciplinary competence into academic
research

* See www.enta.ee/baltmob; www.enta.ee/baltmob2 for more information

Outline
 Concept of Interdisciplinary research (IDR)
 Strengths and weaknesses of IDR
 IDR and actuarial science
 Concept of
Interdisciplinary
Research
Concept of IDR
 “For some it is quite old, rooted in the
ideas of Plato, Aristotle, Rabelais, Kant,
Hegel (….) who have been described as
“interdisciplinary thinkers”. For others it is
entirely a phenomenon of the twentieth
century (….). The actual term did not
emerge until the twentieth century (…..).
However, the basic ideas are quite old
(….)”. *

* Klein, J.T., “Interdisciplinarity – History, Theory and Practice” (1990)

Concept of IDR
 Exact definition of IDR is still unclear
 At one extreme (simplest case) we may
say that IDR is present:
“when elements of any two disciplines are
used in research process”
Concept of IDR
Lonely researcher(s) working in single discipline

Lonely researcher using techniques

from more than one discipline

Two or more researchers working

as a team in same field

Two or more researchers working

separately in different disciplines

Multi (Inter) disciplinary research team

Blackwell, G. W., "Multidisciplinary Team Research", Social Forces, Vol. 33 (1955)

Concept of IDR
1. Different bodies of knowledge are represented in the
research group
2. Group members use different problem solving approaches
(…)
3. Members of the group perform different roles (…)
4. Members of the group work on a common problem
5. There is group responsibility for the final product
6. The group shares common facilities
7. The nature of the problem determines the selection of
group personnel
8. Members are influenced by how others perform their tasks

Birnbaum P. H., “Contingencies for Interdisciplinary Research: Matching Research

Questions with Research Organizations”, Management science, Vol. 27. No. II. (1981)
Concept of IDR
Interdisciplinary research is a mode of research by
teams or individuals that integrates
 Perspectives / concepts / theories and/or
 Tools / techniques and/or
 Information / data
from two or more bodies of specialized
knowledge or research practice.
 Its purpose is (…) to solve problems whose
solutions are beyond the scope of a single field of
research practice.

Porter, A. L., Roessner, J. D., Cohen, A. S., Perreault, M., “Interdisciplinary

Research: Meaning, Metrics and Nurture”, Research Evaluation, Vol. 15, No. 3 (2006)
Two stages of IDR
 Multidisciplinarity:

Medicine
Medicine
Public
Public
Economics
Economics health
health

AIDS
AIDS Epide-
Epide-
Politics
Politics miology
miology

Actuarial
Actuarial Psycho-
Psycho-
science
science logy
logy
Two stages of IDR
 Interdisciplinarity:
 Bioinformatics
 Econometrics
 Behavioral finance
 ……
 weaknesses of
Interdisciplinary
Research
Strengths / weaknesses of IDR
 Main advantage:
 To achieve new results (scientific
knowledge) which could not have been
produced if the participating researchers
would all have had the same disciplinary
knowledge
Strengths / weaknesses of IDR
 Weaknesses and threats are closely
related to main advantage:
 More time and effort consuming
 At least two researchers from different fields
are involved:
 Lack of “transferable” skills (communication, time
management etc.)
 Confluence of different “cultures” and traditions
 Necessity to “overstep” boundaries of own field of
research
Strengths / weaknesses of IDR
 Weaknesses and threats are closely
related to main advantage:
 Results achieved (at least at the beginning)
are quite “trivial” when seen from perspective
of “traditional” sciences
 IDR is a tool and not a goal
Strengths / weaknesses of IDR
 IDR resembles very much work in
multinational environment
 Each discipline represents its own
“culture”, for example
 “Thought pattern” (paradigms) -
 Specific terms (including jargon, say IBNR,
UPR etc.)
 Traditions how technically present results and
solutions
 Different notation etc.
Strengths / weaknesses of IDR
 IDR resembles very much work in multinational
environment
 Common problems arising from “cultural”
differences in IDR:
 What data to use
 Which research method is “best”
 Unawareness and / or misunderstanding of terms
(differences in meaning of the same word)
 Methodological mistakes when applying methods from
other fields
 Communication problems
 Ethical issues, …..
Strengths / weaknesses of IDR
 Meeting is scheduled
at 12:00
 Is it acceptable to
come at 12:30
 In some cultures –
“No”, in some – “Yes”
Strengths / weaknesses of IDR
 Misunderstanding of terms – examples
 “Risk”:
 Insurance and engineering: “probability of
accident x average loss per accident”
 Statistics: “probability of some event which is
seen as undesirable”
 Finance (investments): “(unexpected)
variability or volatility of returns”
Strengths / weaknesses of IDR
 Accountant: “Please remove
virus from my computer”
 Computer specialist (after a
week when nothing was done):
“Well, You asked to remove
virus, but there is no virus in
Your computer, there is only a
worm”
Strengths / weaknesses of IDR
 It is impossible to isolate vocabulary from
grammar, syntax or national culture in
general
 So it is very difficult to separate
"knowledge" from methods, theories and
history of practice in specific field, but…
 Abundance of languages is no longer
obstacle for communication
 Interdisciplinary
Research and Actuarial
Profession
 IDR and Actuarial profession
 Syllabus of actuarial education (1975):
 Mathematics: algebra, trigonometry, calculus;
 Probability and statistics;
 Compound interest mathematics;
 Life contingencies;
 Construction and graduation of mortality
tables;
 Applications: Life insurance, pensions, …

Panjer, H., “Educating the Future Actuary: from Actuarial to Risk Management Education”,
Presented at Groupe Consultatif / IAA Education Seminar, Edinburgh (2006),
downloadable from http://www.gcactuaries.org/events.html
 IDR and Actuarial profession
 Syllabus of actuarial education (2005) –
new additions:
 Economics;
 Applied Statistics;
 Risk theory;
 Introduction to actuarial practice
(applications), etc.

Panjer, H., “Educating the Future Actuary: from Actuarial to Risk Management Education”,
Presented at Groupe Consultatif / IAA Education Seminar, Edinburgh (2006),
downloadable from http://www.gcactuaries.org/events.html
IDR and Actuarial profession
 Changes in syllabus reflect changing realities of
actuarial practice:
 It expands quickly to new areas (public health, social
benefits, banking, enterprise risk management)
requiring from practitioners to acquire new skills
 “Technical” (mathematical, statistical) skills even very
brilliant are no longer enough
 At least some knowledge about economy in general,
investment principles, risk theory, etc, is almost are
“must”
IDR and Actuarial profession
 Actuaries are supposed to be not only
experts in their field but also excellent
“team players”:
 Be able to present ideas and results clearly
 To explain why one or another solution should
be adopted and what risks are associated with
it
 IDR and Actuarial profession

 “Business managers cannot be expected

to like and accept what they cannot
understand”

Bhattacharya, S. N., “Actuaries in the Changing Context”,

Presented at 28th International Congress of Actuaries, Paris (2006),
downloadable from http://papers.ica2006.com/247.html
IDR and Actuarial profession
 According to survey (SOA) employers
think that besides professional knowledge
other skills are important for actuaries:
 Effective communication
 Innovative thinking
 Appreciation of business context and general
business acumen
 Leadership

Daykin, Ch., Lyn, C., Palandra, M. T., “Professionalism within the

Business Context”, Presented at 28th International Congress of Actuaries,
Paris (2006), downloadable from http://papers.ica2006.com/348.html
IDR and Actuarial profession
 “Business design is incomplete if it does
not take into consideration how the human
element interacts with the business model.
Should psychology, sociology and
behavioral economics play a bigger role in
the education of actuaries?”
 “Probably so, but the syllabus for
qualification is already overloaded”.

Daykin, Ch., Lyn, C., Palandra, M. T., “Professionalism within the

Business Context”, Presented at 28th International Congress of Actuaries,
Paris (2006), downloadable from http://papers.ica2006.com/348.html
IDR and Actuarial profession
 It is not possible to be expert in many
fields
 IDR and general transferable skills may be
helpful
IDR and Actuarial profession
 Interdisciplinarity is great opportunity now
faced by actuarial profession
 In some cases it may become the only
way to “survive” under changing
environment