[AISWorld] AISWorld Digest, Vol 1485, Issue 1

[Kevin G Crowston]

Michael Myers wrote:

2. Most patients do not understand the language of medical research. Does that mean that medical research has no value ? Of course not! I don't think we should expect practitioners and the general public - most of whom have not had any research training - to understand the language of research.

I’m not sure if patients is the right analogy. Doctors are the practitioners who use medical research, not the patients directly. And many doctors do consider themselves scientists (they do get a fair amount of training in science) and follow medical research. I was surprised when I asked my doctor about a recent set of findings and he said was still making up his mind (i.e., he wanted to evaluate the studies himself). There does seem to be a different relationship between research and practice in that domain.



Kevin Crowston  | Distinguished Professor of Information Science |  School of Information Studies

Syracuse University
348 Hinds Hall
Syracuse, New York 13244
t  (315) 443.1676   f  315.443.5806   e   crowston at syr.edu <mailto:crowston at syr.edu>

crowston.syr.edu <http://crowston.syr.edu/>