Conceptual Fallacies Research Articles

From Idola Conceptiones to Discourse Analysis: A Response to Bart Crum

Crum's notion of idola as a conceptual fallacy is interesting, somewhat helpful, yet potentially limiting in a critique of research in PE if one is to accept a postmodern or poststructuralist position. In line with a poststructuralist position, a strength in Crum's application of idola is the recognition that research in PE is constituted by the researcher and their social world which, in turn, constitutes the researcher. Limitations to Crum's idola thesis arise when the notion is used to suggest that as a resull of the researcher's lack of conceptual clarity, the quest for knowledge or truth about PE pedagogy is undermined as this assumes that meanings can be unequivocal and precede a linear research process. In cantrast, this response argues that a priority in research should be to examine how, and under what conditions, panicular discourses come to shape PE practices in schools and universities. In a postmodern world, conceptual clarity should not he the goal but rather a coming lo understand how PE knowledge and practice is being constructed across sites and contexts.

Planning and change: a Cambodian public health case study

This paper questions the appropriateness of highly structured strategic planning approaches in situations of complexity and change, using the Cambodian–German Health Project as a case study. Based on participant observation and organisational analysis in the Cambodian public health sector, the paper examines the rhetoric of values, objectives and strategies outlined in the original project documents and their assumptions and implications, and the responses to the changing political situation. It demonstrates the limitations of these planning processes in complex situations of high uncertainty, with little reliable information and a rapidly changing environment. Having highlighted the limitations of the strategic planning process in these circumstances, the paper recommends changes that shift the focus away from planning towards informed strategic management, that monitors the changing environment and is given freedom to respond to emerging risks and opportunities. The Cambodian–German Health Project was initiated in October 1995 as a bilateral health aid project between the German government and the government of the Kingdom of Cambodia, but was disrupted by the “events of 5–6 July, 1997”, as the military action is officially described. Project planning had included an intensive goal oriented planning process (ZOPP) undertaken in collaboration with counterparts from the Ministry of Health, Provincial Health Departments and other bilateral, international and non-government stakeholders. Following the military action, the project was initially suspended, then substantially re-drafted within a new framework of assistance, and eventually re-established after an interval of eight months. The paper will examine these planning processes and responses in the light of Mintzberg’s (1994 The rise and fall of strategic planning. New York: Prentice–Hall) argument that strategic planning fails because of three conceptual fallacies implicit in the process: (1) The fallacy of predeterminism allows planners to assume that goals, results, appropriate activities and required inputs can confidently be predicted based on past and current experience, when the reality is that both the internal and external environments are subject to change that may not be predictable. (2) The fallacy of detachment suggests that the functions of planning and implementation are discrete management functions, and that objective, rational decisions in determining activities and inputs are sufficient to successfully achieve project goals and results. (3) The fallacy of formalisation provides an expectation that the processes of planning will “capture” the creative insight required for successful strategic development, and reach a binding consensus despite the complex interactions and relationships that characterise bilateral aid projects.

What contribution has cardiac surgery made to the decline in mortality from coronary heart disease?

The number of deaths from coronary artery disease is declining in New Zealand as in some other Western countries. It has been estimated that in 1981 in the Auckland metropolitan area there were 126 fewer deaths than would have been expected from the data in 1974. The contribution made by cardiac surgery to this decline was assessed from the known numbers of patients who were operated on, from their survival rate, and from the predicted mortality of the surgical cohort had they not undergone operation. Such mortality was predicted from past studies of patients with similar symptoms, exercise data, studies of unstable angina, and the coronary artery surgical study registry. From this method it was estimated that coronary surgery accounted for 26% to 42% of the reduction in coronary deaths. Two previous studies estimated, from calculations based on the European study of patients with modest symptoms, that the contribution of cardiac surgery was much lower. Extrapolating data from one subset of patients to a second subset with quite different characteristics is a conceptual fallacy.

Conceptual fallacies in subjective probability

Subjective probability considered as a logic of partial belief succumbs to three fundamental fallacies. These concern the representation of preference via expectation, the measurability of partial belief, and the normalization of belief.

IQ, Heritability and Racism by James M. Lawler (review)

two-volume text indicate in the preface that these texts are intended for a general professional audience. In this reviewer's opinion, the authors are incorrect in that statement. However, these texts are excellent reference books for selected professionals. This two-volume edited text consists almost entirely of previously published articles on the behavioral treatment of sexual dysfunction. The introductory sections are well written and the articles chosen are generally of extremely high quality. In fact, several of the reprinted articles are seminal articles within this relatively new field of sex therapy. For example, the first article in volume 1 is a reprint of a report by Lobitz and LoPiccolo, describing the sex-therapy treatment techniques developed at the University of Oregon. This article is the first documented report of successfully using masturbatory training to treat nonorgasmic women. At the time of publication, this treatment approach represented a radical departure from the approach recommended by W. Masters and V. Johnson, and subsequently it has become the mainstay of most current therapeutic approaches for psychogenic female anorgasmia. Similarly, chapter 5 in volume 1 is a reprint of an article by McCarthy describing the successful modification of the Masters and Johnson treatment technique to more typical clinical settings. The procedures described in that article have subsequently been adopted in most sex therapy clinics. These volumes are commendable in that they contain excellent articles on the treatment of the more esoteric sexual difficulties such as fetishes, cross-dressing, exhibitionism, pedophilia, sadomasochism, voyeurism, and homosexuality as well as good articles on the treatment of garden-variety sexual difficulties, such as impotence and frigidity. I feel that this is an excellent reference book for professionals in the area of sex therapy and for graduate students in behaviorally oriented psychology graduate schools. I doubt that this book would be a sensible purchase for most biologically oriented scientists. The texts are too specialized and have too many noteworthy omissions. There are no articles on how to differentiate organic from psychogenic complaints, on pharmacological effects on human sexuality, or on the effects of physical disease on human sexuality. In summary, the theoretical orientation of this test is too specialized for most biological scientists, with the possible exception of the intellectually curious individual who may wish to know ofrecent technical developments in the behavioral treatment of sexual difficulties. Human sexuality, in all of its ramifications, remains an intellectually and personally exciting area of inquiry for most professionals . R. Taylor Segraves Department of Psychiatry University of Chicago IQ, Heritability and Racism. By James M. Lawler. New York: International Publishers , 1979. Pp. 228. $12.00 (cloth); $3.95 (paper). This is a readable, elementary, yet authoritative Marxist review of the controversy over the inevitability of measured differences in intellectual performance . The author exposes most of the conceptual fallacies underlying IQ tests Perspectives in Biology and Medicine ¦ Spring 1980 | 493 (which have no power to discover biological traits, but merely reflect the discriminations built into them by item selection and standardization) and in the misinterpretation of heritability estimates (which have nothing to do with inevitability and nothing to do with differences between groups). He neglects a relevant, ultimately perhaps more important issue: whether intelligence is a single, general dimension along which individuals vary, or many different abilities . All of this, of course, is old ground. What distinguishes the book from many other vigorous arguments on both sides is that it pulls no ideological punches. Professor Lawler is not the first to attack the unsupportable arguments ofJensen and Eysenck as rationalizations for continued suppression of the working class by the controlling capitalist class. He manages, however, to go beyond the popular controversy started by Jensen or even the one started by Terman 60 years ago. He correctly identifies the real controversy as the one between Marxism and social Darwinism. That conflict (more evident, recently, in the "sociobiology" debate) troubles any attempt to connect the biological sciences with the nature of man. Recasting theories in terms of left-right politics helps us recognize that ideological assumptions distort all our inferences. The problem is that revolutionary philosophers of science seem willing to assume that their own ideology, being the correct one, never distorts but merely...

Treatment of diarrheal dehydration

In a paper on fluid therapy of rehydration, the rehydration fluid advocated by Speretto et al, N/2 saline, is approximately 60% of the tonicity of their children's plasma with respect to sodium. Thus, their data show a weight gain over a 3-hour reparation period of about 60% of the fluid administered. Administering a half normal solution leaves a severely dehydrated child still dehydrated. In addition, the potassium deficits are exacerbated and acidosis is only slowly corrected. The author of this letter recommends for rapid rehydration, the use of a balanced solution with a range of electrolyte content (in mEq/liter) as follows: Na, 100 to 130; K, 10 to 15; HCO3, 20 to 30. Children should take oral fluids and food within a few hours after rehydration. A 2nd paper on fluid therapy of rehydration by Nichols and Soriano contains practical, conceptual, physiological and historical fallacies. The practical fallacy is their theoretical critique of an approach that is already successful, and documented worldwide. The conceptual fallacy is their argument for individualized therapy and management based on average stool electrolyte concentration. The physiologic fallacy is their assumption that less sodium content (30 mEq/liter), is safer than more sodium content (90 mEq/liter), while the historical fallacy is their objection of the nutritional inadequacy of oral rehydration fluids.

Note on an Article by Sir Ronald Fisher

Summary (1) Fisher’s allegation that, contrary to some passages in the introduction and on the cover of the book by Wald, this book does not really deal with experimental design is unfounded. In actual fact, the book is permeated with problems of experimentation. (2) Without consideration of hypotheses alternative to the one under test and without the study of probabilities of errors of the two kinds, no purely probabilistic theory of tests is possible. (3) The conceptual fallacy of the notion of fiducial distribution rests upon the lack of recognition that valid probability statements about random variables usually cease to be valid if the random variables are replaced by their particular values. The notorious multitude of “paradoxes” of fiducial theory is a consequence of this oversight. (4) The idea of a “cost function for faulty judgments” appears to be due to Laplace, followed by Gauss.