The Design and Method in Diagnostic Illusory - Research Paper

Introduction

The research on diagnostic illusory combines both qualitative and quantitative research methods thus accomplishing a sufficient research design. This research design ensures that the research question is sufficiently answered using information that existed previously while also collecting and drawing inferences from their data collected through the quantitative techniques. Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that deals with the process of knowing. Therefore, epistemology is related to research in other fields. Epistemology relies on four sources of knowledge discussed as follows (Creswell, J.W. and Creswell, J.D, 2017, 45). Intuitive knowledge relies on intuition rather than facts. In experimentation, intuitive understanding is primarily used when coming up with the idea for the research. Researchers derive sound knowledge from the information received from books, people and its reliance depend on the credibility of the source. In research, such sources of information have to be reviewed to show suitability for the study. There also exists relevant knowledge achieved through logical analysis. In research, they apply appropriate knowledge when reasoning from the findings of the survey to the conclusions. Empirical expertise, on the other hand, is based on objective facts which are found when engaging in procedures in research.

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There are two approaches to theory in the research. Philosophy, in this case, refers to the narrative which is the set of propositions used to explain some phenomena. In this case, the theory is that "Diagnosis is a modernist notion rooted in the idea that we can have bounded, stable and more precise diagnostic categories identified by increasingly sophisticated technologies." (Nettleton, Kitzinger J., and Kitzinger C. 2013 p.134). A theory according to Flyvbjerg satisfies six characteristics including it had to be explicit, universal, abstract, discrete, systematic, complete and predictive. The argument is specific in that it deals with the issue of diagnosis and how that has failed in identifying some common brain damage phenomena in the medical community. The theory is also Universal in that the procedure for medical judgment that the researcher seeks to dispute applies in all areas of the medical community. Regarding being abstract, the theory is not referenced on concrete examples; instead, it is all-encompassing in medicine. The elements used to formulate the theory are context-independent meaning that they do not refer to traditions and institutions. The method is also systematic in that the rules of medicine relate the variables. The theory is predictive in that it specifies the effects of the involved variables.

Each methodology and the resulting research design has various assumptions carried with it. The philosophical assumptions associated with research can either be ontological or epistemological. Ontology deals with the truth while epistemology deals with the methods of finding that truth (Creswell, J.W. and Creswell, J.D, 2017, 59). In the diagnostic illusory, the research design carries the qualitative research assumptions. These include that the reality is socially constructed through the existence of patients with brain damage and in a vegetative state. That the researcher has to take an insider's point of view, that the variables are complicated and difficult to measure; hence they have to rely on existing information. Also, another epistemological assumption to the research is that there exists the primacy of the subject matter; which means everything else has to be held constant but the subject matter. The ontological assumptions include that there has to live a descriptive language in reporting as seen in the article, diagnostic illusory. Also, the researcher is an instrument and that the research ends with a hypothesis and grounded theory. The Diagnostic Illusory ends with the grounded theory that, consciousness exists within the depths of the brain and the mind and through better and futuristic technology, the medical and scientific research community should be able to identify it unambiguously.

The type of research used for the study is field research. In this kind of study, the researcher has control over the independent variables, but there is no control over the environmental influences (Creswell, J.W. and Creswell, J.D, 2017, 25). The researcher controlled the independent variable by choosing who could participate in the study, i.e., the relatives of the patients who had a brain injury. The researcher also controlled how they contacted the persons in the groups; hence some crucial participants could have been left out of the study. According to the article, the research guide was flexible to allow people to tell their stories. The principle of field research as a research design is that the researcher only gets to observe but cannot manipulate the results to get different inferences. Field research serves best because of the generalizability or external validity of the study. Field research, because it occurs under natural conditions, is often more informative than pure experimental research.

An essential part of conducting research is effectively reporting the findings. The report is at the center of the thesis, the research problem, and research questions. The researcher's structure of argument determines how accurately they present the evidence. As part of the research, the researcher should strive to give their findings as they are even if they prove with no doubt, what they wanted to demonstrate. However, the same data through the different manner of analysis can be presented as different evidence for different cases. A researcher and future researchers can argue either way when it comes to showing their findings. In the article, the researcher poses various questions that they then answer using their findings and their analysis. The researchers also acknowledge that even their findings and the evidence that they use are also subject to multiple and varying interpretations. "Such debates are not unique to the study of CDoCs, and sociologists have studied these technologies in other medical settings, which document how the images are open to multiple interpretations even amongst those working within the same medical specialty." (Nettleton, Kitzinger J., and Kitzinger C. 2013 p.137).

Conclusion

Through observations, pre-existing literature and accounts by the interviewed participants, there is evidence that consciousness perhaps exists even in brain dead patients. Some authors support the notion while others not so much. The researchers argue that technology prolongs the life of people who could have died earlier because they were thought to be dead (Nettleton, Kitzinger J., and Kitzinger C. 2013 p.5). Therefore, perhaps some of the cases where the patients have to die could be averted. However, even with the technology we currently have, there is insufficient knowledge of how the mind, the brain and consciousness work. The researcher through an understanding of how diagnosis works and through admitting that diagnosis is at the heart of medicine understands how the theory can cause changes to the system. Through the case analysis of brain-dead patients, the researcher analyses situations where the diagnosis cannot describe nor understand the phenomenon. Similarly, the researcher analyses data which proves that to some extent due to limited knowledge and technology, the diagnosis could be wrong at times.

References

Creswell, J.W. and Creswell, J.D., 2017. Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage publications.

Nettleton, S., Kitzinger, J. and Kitzinger, C., 2014. A diagnostic illusory? The case of distinguishing between "vegetative" and "minimally conscious" states. Social Science & Medicine, 116, pp.134-141.