1. Running head: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY LOOK 1
An Interdisciplinary Look at Campus Carry Issues
Cammie Coffey
INTS 3300-D01
Dr. Gail Bentley
Texas Tech University

2. AN INTERDISCIPLINARY LOOK 2
Abstract
The purpose of this project is to use Repko’s 10 STEP process to take an
interdisciplinary look at the problems associated with Campus Carry policy. Biological science
and organizational leadership disciplines were used to conduct a literature search to address the
focus question: How can leadership understand people's fear, and improve people's views on the
right to carry guns on school campuses? The interdisciplinary process was used to collect
disciplinary knowledge and insights, which were integrated together. These integrated insights
help illuminate the wicked Campus Carry problem.

3. AN INTERDISCIPLINARY LOOK 3
When it comes to carrying concealed handguns on college campuses, both students and
leadership have mixed feelings. Those feelings are just as multifaceted as the individuals
themselves. Senate Bill 11 was passed, which allows people who carry a valid handgun license
to carry a concealed handgun on college campuses. This bill also gives a college limited control
over how they interpret this law on their campus, allowing them some control over new policy,
rules, and regulations. (Summary, 2015) How these are addressed can have lasting effects on the
campus community, and on the student's perceived level of safety.
This purpose of this project is to use Repko’s 10 STEP process to take an
interdisciplinary look at the problems associated with Campus Carry policy. How can people's
views on the Campus Carry policy be improved, and how can people feel safer being on a
campus with concealed handguns? The biological science perspective will help demonstrate why
people fear guns on college campuses and research from the organizational leadership discipline
will be evaluated to determine how management should approach policy and procedural change.
This research will integrate the insights from both the biological science and organizational
leadership disciplines to focus on how leadership can increase the perceived level of safety, and
help develop more positive attitudes on Campus Carry.
STEP 1: State the Focus of Your Paper
One of the main issue with Campus Carry legislation is fear and anxiety. While
reviewing research on people's perspective on this problem, it is clear that many people are
scared to share their college campus with gun holders (Frank, 2015; Thompson, et al, 2013a;
Thompson, et al, 2013b). What was not as clear, is whether or not those fears are irrational, or
backed up by facts and data.

4. AN INTERDISCIPLINARY LOOK 4
An important consideration is where people's fear and anxiety stem from. People learn
fear from a variety of different ways, including "experience," "observation," and "instruction"
(Olsson, 2007, p. 1096, 1099). This suggests that even though many people are scared, they
could be scared for a variety of different reasons, including media, propaganda and witnessing
other people's stories.
It is also important to consider how people's fear affects the way they function. For
example, Frank's (2015) research suggests that people's level of fear correlates with their
opinions on management actions. This implies that leadership must tailor their communication
and policy changes in the right proportions, or they could be at risk of negatively contributing to
people's campus views, instead of improving them.
We must take an interdisciplinary look at people's perspectives to create effective policy
changes and to accurately address the Campus Carry issues. The topic may be stated as a focus
question: How can leadership understand people's fear and improve people's views on the right
to carry guns on school campuses?
STEP 2: Justify Using an Interdisciplinary Approach
An interdisciplinary approach was used for this study. Repko (2012) states that certain
criteria must be met to justify using an interdisciplinary approach. The first qualification is that
the study be about a complex question or problem. The problem must have more than one
discipline that has relevant theories or insights and can't be capable of being solved completely
or researched completely by a single discipline. The last justifying criteria is that the problem be
an unresolved issue for humanity.
All four of Repko's (2012) criteria fits the research question. First, the question is
complex because its goals and methods are unclear and because it cannot be easily analyzed.

5. AN INTERDISCIPLINARY LOOK 5
Many disciplines are required for leadership to understand people's fear and perspectives on
Campus Carry. Next, fear must be looked at from multiple perspectives in order to
comprehensively address the research question. The concept of fear can be looked at as a
biological or emotional response to stimuli (Adolphs, 2013) , or as a motivational and exploitable
tool (Shi, 2016). Testing and managing people's perspectives requires insights from many
different disciplines. Lastly, concealed handguns are currently allowed on college campuses, but
the debate about whether or not they belong there is still ongoing. This means that this study is
aimed to address an unsolved societal need.
STEP 3: Identify Relevant Disciplines
Repko (2012) states that a potentially relevant discipline must have research on at least
one phenomena addressed by the focus question. Potential disciplines that could be used in this
study include, organizational leadership, law, biology, psychology, sociology, and education.
The organizational leadership, law, and education disciplines can be used for policy and
communication insights and/or theories. Biology, psychology, and sociology disciplines can be
used for theories and insights relating to people's perceived levels of fear.
In order to do interdisciplinary work the researcher must have a good understanding of
the disciplines being studied. For this purpose, biology and organizational leadership disciplines
were chosen for this study. Biology is relevant because it uses the strategy of reductionism,
which divides a phenomenon into manageable components. Biology research is guided by the
scientific method and/or survey techniques. The biology discipline will be used to demonstrate
why people fear guns on college campuses. The organizational leadership discipline will help
demonstrate what leaders can do to minimize perceived danger and significantly improve
people's views on guns in their schools.

6. AN INTERDISCIPLINARY LOOK 6
STEP 4: Conduct a Literature Search
The purpose of the literature search is to collect scholastic information and look for holes
in research (Repko, 2012). The most useful disciplines for this study were organizational
leadership and biology. Insights from both of these disciplines can be used to synthesize new
policies and procedures, and help develop more positive attitudes on concealed handguns on
campus. The overreaching question for organizational leadership discipline is, "What can leaders
do to minimize perceived danger and improve people's views on Campus Carry?" The
overreaching biology question is, " How can we demonstrate why people fear guns on
campuses?"
The biology disciplinary perspective literature search contributed to this study by
demonstrating the variety of perspectives on handguns and perceived safety, and also showed
different fear related phenomena. Frank, Johansson, & Flykt 's (2015) quantitative and
correlational study demonstrates how a person's level of fear relates to their approval to actions
taken by management. Olsson's (2007) research was a quantitative study, which shows how fear
of guns may be learned from observation and instruction. The related theory is the social learning
theory. Thompson et al.'s (2013a) and Thompson et al.'s (2013b) were both descriptive studies
that demonstrated perspectives, behavior, attitudes and other characteristics in relation to fear of
concealed handguns on campus. One study surveyed faculty and the other studies students'
perspectives.
The literature search for the organizational leadership perspective demonstrates fear as a
motivator, explores the organizations role in conflict, and examines violence theory. Birnbaum's
(2013) descriptive study illuminated the divided views on Campus Carry and showed that
violence on college campuses are low in proportion to non campus statistics. Butts, Roman,

7. AN INTERDISCIPLINARY LOOK 7
Bostwick, & Porter's (2015) research is a theory article and discussion of the Cure Violence
Model, and literary review. The related phenomena was gun violence. Fox& Harding's (2005)
comparative and qualitative study shows the relationship between organizational deviance and
rampage shootings. Shi & Smith's (2016) study was qualitative, quantitative and experimental. It
demonstrated how message repetition affects fear , behavior and thoughts.
STEP 5: Develop Adequacy in Each Relevant Discipline
Theories and Methods of ResearchUsed in Biology Disciplines
Repko (2012) explains that the interdisciplinary research process relies on the
understanding of the various discipline's theories, concepts, assumptions, and the adequate
knowledge of these discipline's must be obtained before their insights can be used for the
integration part of the process. A person must know how something works, or how something is
used before they can apply that knowledge to other things.
Adequacy in Biological Science Discipline
Biological sciences view the world holistically, but studies diversity. It breaks things
down by life's phenomena and essential processes. This discipline emphasizes on research and
utilizes quantitative or scientific methods to test their theories or hypothesis. Repko (2012)
states that biologists look for physical, deterministic explanations. A biologist looks at fear from
many different perspectives depending on which of life's process they are focusing on, like
neurological brain functions or the sympathetic nervous system (Adolph, 2013). This perspective
demonstrates fear as an adaptable learned reaction. It also demonstrated how fear affects an
individual's perspective on Campus Carry (Thompson et al. 2013a; Thompson et al. 2013b).
Adequacy in Organizational Leadership Discipline

8. AN INTERDISCIPLINARY LOOK 8
Organizational leadership disciplines view the world as groups of people who require
support, like motivation, help with conflict management, consensus building, communication
methods and planning. Leadership supports organizational culture. Research in this discipline
studies leadership theory and coaching styles. Research from this discipline relied on descriptive
and quantitative studies.
For this study, the organizational leadership perspective looks at fear as a motivating, or
controlling factor. On the topic of Campus Carry, this perspective focused more on gun and
violence related phenomena, like rampage shootings and on communication and organization
failures (Fox & Harding, 2005). Strategic planning and management techniques, like The Cure
Violence Model, are used to create safer environments (Butts, 2015). When the leadership
discipline focused on fear, it as a motivational tool (Shi & Smith, 2016). This perspective also
discusses how and why the Campus Carry debate is divided (Birnbaum, 2013).
STEP 6: Analyze the Problem and Evaluate Each Insight or Theory
How can people's views on the Campus Carry policy be improved and how can people
feel safer being on a campus with concealed handguns? The biological science perspective will
help demonstrate why people fear guns on college campuses. The organizational leadership
discipline can be utilized to determine how management should approach policy and procedural
changes. Insights from both of these disciplines can be used to synthesize an action plan that will
help leadership make the campus safer and help develop more positive attitudes on concealed
handguns on campus.
Biological Perspective Literature Review

9. AN INTERDISCIPLINARY LOOK 9
Concerning Campus Carry legislation, studies suggest that a majority of people are in
fear of concealed handguns on college campuses. People's fears appear to be linked to many
things including, familiarity with guns, experience with violence, and their observation of media
communications. Studies also suggest that management can add to conflict if their management
style does not match the student's perceived level of fear.
Adolph's (2013) research was a descriptive article and review about the biology of fear. It
highlights multiple aspects of the phenomena of fear, like the different types of fear, adaptability
of fear, behaviors, heritability of fear related traits, and many other topics. The source provided
different perspectives and suggestions for research on fear related studies. It contributed to this
study by providing a detailed description of the biological sciences perspective and insights on
fear related phenomena.
Thompson et al.'s (2013a) research uses a descriptive study to demonstrate faculty's
perceptions of concealed handguns on campuses. Surveys were sent out and 791 were used for
the study. Respondents were categorized by demographic and background characteristics. It also
compared specific factors, like whether or not the individual was a gun owner, to perspectives
on perceived safety. Thompson et al.'s (2013a) research was important to this study because it
shows people's perspectives on guns in school and illustrates how the diversity in the
perspectives relates to personal life factors.
According to Thompson et al.'s (2013b) research, most students currently feel safe, but
they believe that they will be less safe with more guns on campus. Thompson et al. (2013b)
conducted a qualitative study with 1,649 students from 15 public Midwestern colleges to
determine their views on carrying concealed handguns on campuses. The related phenomena
studied is anticipatory anxiety and fear. Random undergraduate students were given surveys with

10. AN INTERDISCIPLINARY LOOK 10
questions based off of empirical research. Aside from demographic questions, the survey asked
questions about experience with violence, gun ownership questions, education and training level
with guns, and level of support for concealed firearms. Statistics show that 78% of students
believe that they would feel less safe with concealed handguns on campus, and 78% stated that
they would not carry a gun. Although, 49% of students believed that they would be able to
protect themselves better, if they carried a gun. Most students surveyed ( 94%) feel safe on their
campuses and do not feel like they are at risk of being a victim.
While many students may fear concealed handguns on campuses, research suggests that
those fears could correlate with things other than direct aversive experience. Olsson's (2007)
used the neuroscience perspective to compare research on the amygdala-centered model of fear
conditioning. A quantitative study on the social learning of fear through observation and
education was conducted. A brain imaging study was used to observe neural systems involved in
classical, observational, and instructed fear conditioning. The study found that similar neural
activity was demonstrated with all three type of fear conditioning. According to Olsson (2007),
fear is not only learned from personal experience, it can also be learned from hearing other
people's experience, or from speeches. This perspective on fear learning can help illustrate why
so many individuals fear gun-related violence, even though they have never been in a violent
situation at school. People's perceptions on concealed handguns may be drastically influenced by
the combination of heavy media coverage of rare school related gun violence and strong anti-gun
control strategies.
A student's openness to management action may be linked to their level of perceived fear.
Frank , Johansson and Flykt's (2015) research studies the relationship between a person's level
of fear in relation to their approval of management actions. In their qualitative study, a six page

11. AN INTERDISCIPLINARY LOOK 11
questionnaire was used to survey 733 randomly selected people. This data was then quantified
and evaluated with IBM SPSS statistics 19, which is a predictive analytic tool. Different points
and levels of fear for brown bears and wolves were distinguished and then these were compared
with those people's attitude towards management's implementation of actions. A positive
correlation was found between higher levels of perceived fear and a person's agreement to more
management action. Thus, according to Frank et al.'s research, a student's level of fear may need
to be considered before leaders implement new procedural or policy changes.
Organizational Leadership Literature Review
From the organizational leadership perspective, the focus is on the aspect of Campus
Carry that relate to organizational issues, controlling perspectives, and creating change. Shi &
Smith's (2016) qualitative study focused on communication and information in relation to fear
appeal messaging. It shows how message repetition affects fear , a person's behavior, thoughts,
and self-efficacy. From a management perspective, fear is a motivational tool. This information
is also important to this study because it provides insight on how messaging, like media and anti-
gun/pro-gun propaganda, might influence a person's perspective on Campus Carry.
Fox& Harding's (2005) comparative, qualitative study shows the relationship between
rampage shootings and problems with the information flow in the organizations. The theory is
that with the right environment and organizational structure, interventions
can prevent school shootings. This research benefits this interdisciplinary research because it
looks at the history of gun violence in schools and explores the violent past from an
organizational leadership perspective. It suggests that the rampage shootings could have been
preventable, but the organization's information flow failed to meet the organizations needs.

12. AN INTERDISCIPLINARY LOOK 12
This research relates to this study because if focuses on organizational leadership, sociology and
education perspectives of gun violence in schools.
Another issue of Campus Carry is the concern for increased violence on campus. Butts et
al.'s (2015) research is a theory article and discussion of the Cure Violence Model, and literary
review. The phenomena discussed was gun From this perspective, the organization's norms and
attitudes are factors in gun violence. The insight that this perspective aids to the current study is
the public health's model to cure gun violence. This perspective views gun violence as treatable,
like a disease. Changing the norms and attitudes that instigate gun violence will reduce the use of
guns.
Campus Carry is very hotly debated and Birnbaum's (2013) descriptive study focused on
the divided views. It showed that violence on college campuses are low in proportion to non
campus statistics and discusses the politics involved in the debate. This perspective's insight is
that both pro-gun and ban-gun sides of the argument used motivated reasoning and can twist
events to suit their policy views. This suggests that people's perspectives are fallacies and that
not only are people's perspectives based off of their reasoning, their reasoning is also based off of
their perspective.
In a fearful situation, how a person reacts can vary greatly. Barkouli's (2015) thesis
studied how organizational leader's leadership styles related to their responses in critical
moments. This research discusses how fear emotions relate to decision making and examines the
adaptive leadership style. In regards to the Campus Carry focus question, this perspective
addresses leadership's role in providing a safer environment by evaluating past experiences.
STEP 7: Identify Conflict Between Insights and Their Sources

13. AN INTERDISCIPLINARY LOOK 13
Repko (2012) suggests that there will be conflicts between disciplinary concepts, assumptions,
and theories. These conflicts can arise from insights from different disciplines or within the same
discipline. Finding these conflicts are key to the integration process since absence of conflict
means that there is no need for interdisciplinary research.
Sources of Conflict Between Disciplines
On the topic of fear, the main source of conflict between the biological science and
organizational leadership perspectives is that both disciplines are describing similar phenomena,
but using different terminology and producing different insights. The biological science
disciplines focus on the behavior or functions of fear, and they believe that the concept can be
broken down into manageable pieces that can be statistically analyzed and quantified (Adolph,
2013). The organizational leadership perspectives focuses on fear as a motivational system, or a
tool that can be utilized for organizational change. As a case in point, in the biology perspective
Frank (2015) focuses on fear as the affect of different stimuli, and uses qualitative and statistical
studies to compare a person's level of fear, with their level of acceptance of management actions.
Shi's (2016) research in the organizational leadership discipline, focuses on using fear and
repetition as a tool for controlling an individual's perceptions and behavioral intention, or using
fear appeal for persuasion.
STEP 8: Create Common Ground
Once conflicts are found, Repko (2012) states that common ground must be found or
created before the integration process can begin. The source of conflict between the
organizational leadership and biological science discipline is that they are both describing a
similar phenomena and offering alternative insights. The technique that Repko (2012) suggests
to bridge the gap and create common ground is redefinition. Each approach suggests that an

14. AN INTERDISCIPLINARY LOOK 14
individual's fear has multiple levels of severity based off of the types of inputs, and describe how
people's motivations are affected by their emotions. People's fears can be used to control or
predict their reactions.
STEP 9: Construct a More Comprehensive Understanding
Campus Carry is a wicked problem that cannot be solved, but insights from both
disciplines can be integrated to paint a clearer image of the bigger problem (Repko, 2012).
When the insights from both perspectives are combined, it can help identify more facets of the
problem and aid in making future changes and improvements more effective. In Step 9, the
common ground from Step 8 will be used to integrate the conflicting insights (Repko, 2012).
While looking at various studies about fear and people's perceptions on concealed handguns,
insights from both biology and organizational leadership disciplines can be combined to gain a
better comprehension of people's fears on Campus Carry policy, and how those fears will affect
people's views on management actions.
A comprehensive look at fear and fear of concealed handguns demonstrates that a lot of
people are afraid of guns on campus, but it is unclear as to whether or not those fears are rational.
The insights from Frank's (2015) research, and biology perspective, shows that people's level of
fear determines how they react to management action, and the organizational leadership
perspective shows how repetitive fear appeal messaging can be used to affect a person's
perceived threat level, their "efficacy" and their "behavioral intentions " (Shi, 2016). When the
insights from both disciplines are combined, we see that fear controls people and people can be
manipulated by their fear. If people have a high level of fear about Campus Carry, then the
wrong level of management action could cause undesirable results. Students and staff feel
unprepared to handle the situations they might find themselves in can feel increased fear and

15. AN INTERDISCIPLINARY LOOK 15
anxiety (Adolph, 2013). Management actions, if inadequate, could leave students feeling unsafe
and unprepared.
The biology perspective demonstrates how people can obtain fears from ways other than
personal experience, like from instruction, or observation (Olson, 2007). Birnbaum (2013) with
the organizational leadership perspective suggests that views on concealed handguns reflects the
two competing gun perspectives. Combining both perspectives suggests that people's fear of
guns can come from a variety of sources like media, propaganda, and entertainment.
STEP 10: Communicating the Results
How can people's views on the Campus Carry policy be improved and how can people
feel safer being on a campus with concealed handguns? Many people fear concealed handguns
on college campuses. If those fears are clearly understood, people's perspectives on Campus
Carry can be improved. Insights from both perspectives can be used to create customized
policies which improve people's perceived safety on campus. It is clear that many people have
real anxiety about sharing their campus with concealed weapons, but more research is required to
understand why these people are in fear, and where those fears stem from.
Further Study
It is difficult to manage fears or prevent them if you do not understand where those fears
come from. Most of the research conducted on students' and management's perceptions
of Campus Carry did not focus enough of the qualitative aspects of where people's fears
stemmed from. A qualitative study designed to find the root of campus violence fear would be
recommended so that leaders can tailor communications to address those specific issues.
Due to the randomization methods with Thompson et al.'s (2013b) research, the results
may have been demographically biased. According to Thompson et al., most of the students

16. AN INTERDISCIPLINARY LOOK 16
surveyed were white (87%), females (64%), and non-gun owners (84%). A study with more
diversity could demonstrate more diversity in opinions. In regards to Olsson's (2007) research,
future qualitative studies could be conducted to determine how heavily people's perspectives
have been influenced by media and other gun propaganda.
The literature search had holes when it comes to actual statistical research that may
validate people's fear of gun violence on college campuses. It is suggested that a study be done
which compares the ratio of violence done by college students in proportion to violence
conducted by non-college students. The study can also compare the numbers of rampage
shooting in locations where guns are banned, compared to locations where guns are not banned
to see if the regulations have any real affect on preventing violence. These statistics can help
illuminate the level of threat people with concealed handgun licenses on campus actually pose,
and the information would be useful in countering anti-gun propaganda.

17. AN INTERDISCIPLINARY LOOK 17
References
Adolph, R. (2013). Review: The Biology of Fear. Current Biology, 23R79-R93.
Barkouli, A. (2015). Organizational Leaders’ Experience with Fear-Related Emotions: A Critical
Incident Study. Dissertations &Theses. Paper 203.
Birnbaum, R. (2013). Ready, Fire, Aim: The College Campus Gun Fight. Change, 45(5), 6-14.
Butts, J. A., Roman, C. G., Bostwick, L., & Porter, J. R. (2015). Cure violence: A public health
model to reduce gun violence. Annual Review Of Public Health, 36,39-53.
Fox, C., & Harding, D. J. (2005). School Shootings as Organizational Deviance. Sociology Of
Education, 78(1), 69-97.
Frank, J., Johansson, M., & Flykt, A. (2015). Public attitude towards the implementation of
management actions aimed at reducing human fear of brown bears and wolves. Wildlife
Biology, 21(3), 122-130.
Olsson, A. A. (2007). Social learning of fear. Nature Neuroscience, 10(9), 1095-1102.
Repko, Allen F. (2012). Interdisciplinary Research: Process and Theory. SAGE Publications.
Kindle Edition.
Shi, J., & Smith, S. W. (2016). The effects of fear appeal message repetition on perceived threat,
perceived efficacy, and behavioral intention in the extended parallel process model.
Health Communication, 31(3), 275-286
Summary of Recent Legislation. (2015). Retrieved February 08, 2016, from
http://www.depts.ttu.edu/hr/CampusCarry/Legislation.php
Thompson, A., Price, J., Dake, J., & Teeple, K. (2013a). Faculty Perceptions and Practices
Regarding Carrying Concealed Handguns on University Campuses. Journal Of
Community Health, 38(2), 366-373 8p.

18. AN INTERDISCIPLINARY LOOK 18
Thompson, A., Price, J. H., Dake, J. A., Teeple, K., Bassler, S., Khubchandani, J., & ... Stratton,
C. (2013b). Student Perceptions and Practices Regarding Carrying Concealed Handguns
on University Campuses. Journal Of American College Health, 61(5), 243-253.