Evaluating the strength of evidence in research and education: The theory of anchored narratives

TY - JOUR

T1 - Evaluating the strength of evidence in research and education

T2 - The theory of anchored narratives

AU - Leppink, Jimmie

N1 - © 2017 The Author.

PY - 2017/8/1

Y1 - 2017/8/1

N2 - Empirical research based on groups of participants and assessment of the competence of individual students, trainees, and professionals in a given context have at least one thing in common: evidence in favour or against a hypothesis should be established by carefully considering and integrating various pieces of evidence to create a coherent story that has no contradictions, loose ends or missing elements. To provide a coherent framework for this process, this article introduces a modified version of a theory that has been used as a model of legal decision making in criminal cases: the theory of anchored narratives. In this theory, judges in a case judge the quality of pieces of evidence and whether these pieces of evidence can be anchored as narratives to form a chain of evidence that enables a decision beyond reasonable doubt regarding a suspect's guilt. This article provides examples from the domain of medicine to elaborate how a modified version of this theory can provide researchers and educators with a framework in which the assessment of both empirical research and competence is a qualitative professional judgement based on an integration of various sources of qualitative and quantitative information.

AB - Empirical research based on groups of participants and assessment of the competence of individual students, trainees, and professionals in a given context have at least one thing in common: evidence in favour or against a hypothesis should be established by carefully considering and integrating various pieces of evidence to create a coherent story that has no contradictions, loose ends or missing elements. To provide a coherent framework for this process, this article introduces a modified version of a theory that has been used as a model of legal decision making in criminal cases: the theory of anchored narratives. In this theory, judges in a case judge the quality of pieces of evidence and whether these pieces of evidence can be anchored as narratives to form a chain of evidence that enables a decision beyond reasonable doubt regarding a suspect's guilt. This article provides examples from the domain of medicine to elaborate how a modified version of this theory can provide researchers and educators with a framework in which the assessment of both empirical research and competence is a qualitative professional judgement based on an integration of various sources of qualitative and quantitative information.

KW - Evidence

KW - Medical education

KW - Medicine

KW - Story

KW - Theory of anchored narratives

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85014104106&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jtumed.2017.01.002

DO - 10.1016/j.jtumed.2017.01.002

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85014104106

SN - 1658-3612

VL - 12

SP - 284

EP - 290

JO - Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences

JF - Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences

IS - 4

ER -