HLTB15H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Paradigm Shift, Deductive Reasoning, Internal Validity
Document Summary
The conventions of health research can be viewed as work conducted to develop knowledge based on available evidence, following certain rules and procedures. There are different paradigms or clusters of beliefs and assumptions that shape what is studies, how research is conducted, what methods are used to ground knowledge and how the results are interpreted. Illness is conceptualized as the obverse of health. Illness as subjectively defined, socially sanctioned and legitimated. Illness is socially patterned through the interpretations of individuals themselves and significant others, such as family, friends and health providers. Two major approaches to doing research; positivist and interpretivist. Later developments in sociology and humanist philosophy in the 20th century led to a contrasting paradigm for understanding the world that put greater emphasis on human subjectivity. Inductive reasoning; a process that begins with observation and/or data collection, finds patterns or associations and builds theory or explanations on the basis of evidence.
