How Convergence of Research Paradigms Can Improve Research on Diagnostic Judgment

Abstract

The author's purpose is to urge the constructive convergence of two current judgment and decision-making research paradigms. He shows why the heuristics-and-biases approach and the lens-model approach should be placed in the context of two very different metatheories, the coherence metatheory and the correspondence metatheory. The differences between the two research paradigms thus become apparent; they speak to different problems and appeal to different criteria for evaluating performance. Bringing the two into a constructive relationship to one another, however, will not only double the store of knowledge regarding diagnostic judgment and decision making, but also enhance efforts to achieve a cumulative discipline. Isolating these research paradigms from one another--as is done now--stifles theoretical generality, fragments knowledge, and confuses medical decision makers. An example of how convergence can be achieved is provided.