Focus group
Tuesday, November 26th, 2013
The focus group method is a well-known method in qualitative research aiming to find meanings and significances people attach to certain phenomena. The hallmark of the focus group method is the interaction of the participants.(1-5) Market researchers developed this method but social scientists and primary health care researchers also use focus groups to explore people’s belief, opinions and attitudes.(4) In fact this method is a kind of a face to face interview but the mostly 6-8 participants are able to talk to one another, to talk and to ask questions, stimulating each other to share experiences and opinions. read more
Grounded Theory
Tuesday, November 26th, 2013
In 1967, Glaser and Strauss outlined a scheme for grounded theorizing, which is a method in qualitative research guiding researchers in finding linkages between data and theory.(1;2) Theoretical sampling and constant comparison are the main principles. read more
Gut feelings, sense of reassurance, sense of alarm
Monday, November 25th, 2013
Many GPs experience so-called gut feelings in their diagnostic reasoning about patients, a specific kind of intuitive feelings usually confined to prognostic assessments of the patient’s situation and often accompanied by bodily sensations.(1;2) These may act as a compass, steering GPs through busy office hours and enabling them to handle complex problems.(3) read more
Heuristics
Tuesday, November 26th, 2013
A heuristic is a simple, fast and easy to apply rule or behavioural pattern.(1-3)Â Only a limited amount of external data and little cognitive effort are needed for its execution. A heuristic can be a powerful tool if it is adapted to the particular environment. A heuristics can be unconscious or deliberate. read more
Intuition
Tuesday, November 26th, 2013
Intuitive feelings are generally defined as thoughts that come to mind without apparent effort.(1-4) Intuition is known to be acquired by learning processes.(5;6) Some systematic processes of retrieval or integration of information generate intuitions unconsciously influencing behaviour. read more
Linguistic validity
Tuesday, November 26th, 2013
Linguistic validity means that different language versions of an instrument such as a questionnaire are conceptually equivalent in each of the target countries. (1-3) Such questionnaires should be understood and practically performed in the same way. Linguistic and cross-cultural aspects must be taken into account as well the concept related to the questionnaire involved. Linguistic validity can be reached by means of a forward-backward translation procedure. read more
Medical Decision-Making and Medical Problem Solving
Tuesday, May 14th, 2013
Medical Decision Making and Medical Problem Solving are two main approaches used to describe the cognitive processes underlying clinical diagnosis.(1) This distinction is the result of historical factors. A diagnosis is a statement about what disease someone has (http://www.macmillandictionary.com) based on symptoms (subjectively) and signs (objectively).(2) Medical decision making (MDM) models are concerned with diagnostic reasoning as an opinion revision process.(3) They make use of Bayes’ theorem, likelihood ratios, prior and posterior odds, thresholds, schemes and decision trees to arrive at the best diagnostic and therapeutic decisions. (1;3-7) These mathematical models, incorporating clinical epidemiological data, are related to the concept of evidence-based medicine. read more
Nominal group technique
Wednesday, May 15th, 2013
The nominal group technique (NGT) is a qualitative research method of judgmental decision-making involving four phases (generating ideas, recording them, evaluation and group decision). The technique enables researchers to gather information from relevant experts facilitating creative problem solving by means of judgmental decision making in situations where routine answers are inadequate.(1-5) This means that the judgments of experts on the topic are integrated. read more
Pattern recognition
Sunday, November 24th, 2013
In routine cases, experienced physicians immediately recognize the correct diagnoses. The direct retrieval of relevant knowledge is an automatic non-analytical process that is often referred to as pattern recognition.(1;2) This immediate understanding of a patient’s problem in diagnostic terms is based on an automatic information integration process such as categorization and problem representation(2-4) or on the instant recognition of similarity to a previously seen case stored in memory.(1;5) read more
Rules of thumb
Friday, November 15th, 2013
The terms ‘heuristics’ and ‘rule of thumb’ are often used as synonyms, but there are some differences in meaning.(1) A rule of thumb was explained as a rough practical rule that was based on practice and experience. Most likely the saying comes from the length of the first joint of the thumb, which is about one inch. read more
