Role Of Empirical Research Research Articles

Mutual benefits for research and practice: Randomized controlled trials in the Hector Children's Academy Program.

This article describes how a series of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were implemented in the Hector Children's Academy Talent Development Program with the goal of generating mutual benefits for research and practice. The Hector Children's Academy Program, founded in 2010 and located in one of the largest states in Germany, Baden-Württemberg, is a statewide enrichment program for talented primary school students, with a focus on STEMM topics. The program is financed by a private foundation, supervised by the Ministry of Education, and offered by 69 local sites that are hosted by local schools. About 15,000 primary school students (Grades 1-4) attend enrichment courses (more than 23,000 course participations) offered by the Hector Children's Academy Program every year. A unique element of the Hector Children's Academy Program is the role of empirical research in course development. The Hector Core Courses-offered by all local sites-undergo a strict quality assurance process in which RCTs are used to test their effectiveness with regard to central outcomes. After describing the Hector Children's Academy Program, we explain how the Hector Core Courses were developed and incorporated into the program, summarize key findings from the RCTs, and discuss mutual benefits for research and practice.

Research, education, ethics consultation: evaluating a Bioethics Unit in an Oncological Research Hospital.

This study aims to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate the activities of a Bioethics Unit (BU) 5years since its implementation (2016-2020). The BU is a research unit providing empirical research on ethical issues related to clinical practice, clinical ethics consultation, and ethical education for health care professionals (HPS). We performed an explanatory, sequential, mixed-method, observational study, using the subsequent qualitative data to explain the initial quantitative findings. Quantitative data were collected from an internal database and analyzed by descriptive analysis. Qualitative evaluation was performed by semi-structured interviews with 18 HPs who were differently involved in the BU's activities and analyzed by framework analysis. Quantitative results showed an extensive increment of the number of BU research projects over the years and the number of work collaborations with other units and wards. Qualitative findings revealed four main themes, concerning: 1. the reasons for contacting the BU and the type of collaboration; 2. the role of the bioethicist; 3. the impact of BU activities on HPs, in terms of developing deeper and more mature thinking; 4. the need to extend ethics support to other settings. Overall, our results showed that performing both empirical bioethics research and more traditional clinical ethics activities at the same unit would produce an impetus to increase collaboration and spread an 'ethical culture' among local HPs. Our findings contribute to a growing body of literature on the models of clinical ethics support services and the role of empirical research in bioethics internationally. They also prepare the ground for the implementation of a multidisciplinary Clinical Ethics Committee (CEC) that aims to support the BU's ethics consultation service within the local context.

Transpersonal Psychology: Trends in Empirical Research and Diversity During the First Five Decades of the Field

Prior research on the role of empirical research in transpersonal psychology is updated, along with trends in gender diversity and geographical distribution of authorships. Data was compiled from a review of articles published in the two main journals of the field, The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology and the International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, over the first five decades of the field. Based on these records of the field's published work, it appears that empirical research has played a small though gradually growing role in the literature, and that there has been substantive correction from early skews toward male authorship in North America. Despite this, gender imbalance remains somewhat greater in the transpersonal field than within the broader field of psychology. While there is continued growth of international authorship, it has not kept pace with growth in North American authorship.

Social science and Marxist humanism beyond collectivism in Socialist Romania

This article brings together the history of the social sciences and the history of social thought in Socialist Romania. It is concerned with the development of ideas about the social beyond collectivism, especially about the relationship between individual and society under socialism, from the early 1960s to the end of the 1970s. The analysis speaks to three major themes in the current historiography of Cold War social science. First, the article investigates the role of disciplinary specialization in the advancement of new ideas about the social in the postwar period. Specifically, it asks how the debate over the relationship between sociology and Marxism-Leninism has challenged ideas about collectivism from Stalinist social science. Second, the article shows how social practice, individual and collective agency, and people's subjectivities became theoretically relevant in the 1960s, and how they were integrated, via empirical sociological research, into the reworked conceptual apparatus of post-Stalinist Marxism-Leninism. This complicates accounts about the role of quantification and theorization in postwar social science by foregrounding the intense reflection on the role of empirical research in sociology under state socialism. Third, the article shows how the relationship between individual and society became a topic of interest across social sciences in the 1960s and 1970s. The Marxist humanist approach to the social, although it never achieved the institutional status of a distinct discipline, adds an important perspective from East Central Europe to the existing historiography of the ‘thinning’ of the social in social sciences and social thought beginning in the 1950s.

Rola badań ankietowych w rekonstrukcji językowo-kulturowego obrazu szacunku we współczesnej polszczyźnie

The aim of the study is to present the role of empirical research in the reconstruction of the linguacultural image of axiologically loaded concepts and socially determined connotations. The article relates to methodological assumptions and findings of ethnolinguistics, where the reconstruction of the conceptualisation of particular notions is based on the interpretation of three types of data: (i) the language system, (ii) questionnaires, and (iii) texts. This is the approach adopted in the report Język – wartości – polityka [Language – values – politics] (JWP 2006), and then in the Axiological Lexicon of Slavs and Their Neighbours (LASiS 1-5, 2015-2019), compiled by the team supervised by Jerzy Bartmiński. This study presents the results of a questionnaire regarding respect (Polish szacunek), conducted among one hundred students from five universities in Lublin. Respondents were asked to answer the question: “What, in your opinion, is the essence of respect?”. The data obtained from first-hand sources enable a reconstruction of the students’ image of true respect in the Polish language in an aspectual view.

La ricerca empirica in psicoanalisi e psicoterapia analitica. Paradossi e provocazioni

L'autore, dopo una breve sintesi storica degli approcci teorici alla ricerca in psicoterapia, sottolinea alcuni aspetti problematici della Evidence Based Medicine applicata alla psicoterapia analitica. Vengono inoltre descritti i risultati di alcune ricerche sugli esiti delle terapie analitiche che ne dimostrano l'efficacia, confermata negli studi di follow-up. Vengono infine presentate alcune riflessioni su quale possa essere il ruolo della ricerca empirica nello sviluppo della conoscenza in psicoanalisi e psicologia analitica.

Getting Down and Dirty: The Case for Empirical Legal Research

This paper considers the role of empirical research in legal scholarship. The paper argues that the failure by higher education institutes, including, but not limited to, failings on the part of law schools, to develop a more significant research capacity in empirical legal research could have very negative impacts on the next generation of legal scholars. It sets out some (very) personal reflections of the author and illustrates the argument by using practical examples of empirical legal research. As a result, it seeks to be both a ‘call to arms’ and a practical guide for those interested in pursuing empirical legal research.

Nudges and coercion: conceptual, empirical, and normative considerations.

Given that the concept of coercion remains a central concern for bioethics, Quigley's (Monash Bioethics Rev 32:141-158, 2014) recent article provides a helpful analysis of its frequent misapplication in debates over the use of 'nudges'. In this commentary I present a generally sympathetic response to Quigley's argument while also raising several issues that are important for the larger debates about nudges and coercion. I focus on several closely related topics, including the definition of coercion, the role of empirical research, and the normative concerns at the core of these disputes. I suggest that while a degree of precision is certainly required when deploying the relevant concepts, perhaps informed by empirical data, we need to continue to push these debates towards more pressing normative considerations.

The academic psychologist as a convener of information: Implications for the scholarship of integration and (online) teaching

Historically, the role of the academic psychologist has been fairly set. It has been general practice to emphasize the importance and role of empirical research within the history of psychology. As a means to convey information derived from this source, academic psychologists (like most other academics) have relied on the traditional method of face-to-face communication when teaching students. These means and methods still have considerable relevance and importance to the general field of psychology even though, as discussed in this paper, they have noticeable limitations. This paper aims to stimulate thinking about how and why academic psychology does not need to be rigidly bound by these traditions. In doing so, an alternative role for the academic psychologist is proposed, as a convener of information employing the scholarship of integration. Several examples of how integrative scholarship can be achieved and undertaken in psychology are presented along with a consideration of how the scholarship of integration advances psychological science and the teaching of it.

Mathematical Formalism and Political-Economic Content

Mathematical methods are only one moment in a layered process of theory generation in political economy, which starts from Schumpeterian vision, progresses to the identification of relevant abstractions, the development of mathematical and quantitative models, and the confrontation of theories with empirical data through statistical methods. But today the relevant abstract problems of political economy are modified to fit available mathematical tools. The role of empirical research in disciplining theoretical speculation, on which the scientific traditions integrity rests, was undermined by specific limitations of nascent econometric methods, and usurped by ex cathedra methodological fiats of theorists. These developmentssystematically favored certain ideological predispositions of economicsas a discipline. There is abundant room for New Thinking in political economy starting from the vision of the capitalist economy as a complex, adaptive system far from equilibrium, including the development of the theory of statistical fluctuations for economic interactions, redirection of macroeconomics and financial economics from path prediction toward an understanding of the qualitative properties of the system, introduction of constructive and computable methods into economic modeling, and the critical reconstruction of econometric statistical methods.

Reflective Equilibrium as a Normative Empirical Model

People who work and live in a certain moral practice usually pos- sess a specific form of moral wisdom. If we manage to incorporate their moral intuitions in ethical reasoning, we can arrive at judgements and (modest) the- ories that grasp a moral experience that generally cannot be found outside the said practice. To achieve this goal, we need a legitimate way to balance moral intuitions, ethical principles and general theories. In the present contribution, we describe a version of the model of Reflective Equilibrium, which we call the Normative-Empirical Reflective Equilibrium (NE-RE). RE provides a frame- work for ethical thinking that includes both (practical) moral experience and normative theory. After an outline of the model, we focus on the role of empirical research and illustrate how empirical data on moral intuitions can add to the compre- hensiveness of the set of moral beliefs in NE-RE. Subsequently, we describe how coherence among the elements of an NE-RE can be understood and measured. Finally, we address an important question for any method of moral reasoning: what is the status of the outcome of the reasoning process? This is a matter of justification. We argue for a so-called good reasoning-justified outcome strategy in NE-RE. This strategy is built on a reasoning process in which the reason-giving force of each element is tested and weighed. The thinker has to work towards a coherent view in which only the elements with sufficient jus- tificatory power are retained. If the thinker decides that the elements fit together into a coherent view, a reflective equilibrium is reached. NE-RE is an attempt to describe a model for moral reasoning that can profit from the moral wisdom present among experienced agents through the use of empirical research.

Empirical ethics: a growing area of bioethics

Clinical Ethics is still a relatively young journal, but it has achieved a lot in the last four years by consolidating health-care ethics as a truly interdisciplinary field. The decision to have a section of the journal specifically focusing on empirical ethics was noted, in the first issue of the journal, to possibly ‘come as a surprise to some readers . . . but reflects the importance the Editorial team give to this area’. This decision has proved to be a fruitful one, with the section flourishing and publishing many innovative and influential papers by some of the leading people in the field. After four years as the editor of this section, Professor Clare Williams has passed the baton to me and it is with great excitement and anticipation that I have taken it on. Clare has done a wonderful job with the Empirical Ethics section, providing a forum for robust empirical work in ethics and showing how productive this kind of work can be. I come to this area from a different background to Clare. My first degree was in philosophy and I became interested in empirical methods in bioethics initially from a theoretical perspective – what does this kind of research contribute to ethical deliberation in terms of informing what we should do? This theoretical interest led to me deciding to actually do some empirical research myself. This decision was driven by many complex and inter-related factors, among them a desire to experience first hand what ‘doing’ this type of research would be like; to see in practice what this kind of research might contribute to ethical deliberation; and to find out about how ethical issues were approached and managed in the everyday practice of an area I had an existing interest in – infertility treatment. I conducted a qualitative project on infertility clinicians and thoroughly enjoyed the process of carrying out in-depth interviews and getting a more nuanced understanding of the area. Since then I have carried out other projects in a similar vein and now see the empirical component in my work as very valuable. Empirical ethics is still a relatively recent phenomenon in modern bioethics and has its opponents as well as proponents. The growth in engagement with empirical research has, arguably, been the biggest change in recent bioethics. Sugarman et al. conducted a study that pointed to the rise of empirical research in bioethics during the 1980s. Borry et al. continued this work and charted the rise of empirical research, conducting a quantitative analysis of peer-reviewed journals in the field of bioethics in the period 1990–2003 to analyse the evolution and nature of published empirical research in bioethics. They found that the proportion of empirical research rose in these journals from 5.4% in 1990 to 15.4% in 2003 and concluded that, ‘it is likely that the importance of empirical methods in medical ethics and bioethics can only be expected to increase’. The reasons for this ‘empirical turn’ are disputed; Borry et al. have argued that it can be attributed to three factors. First, the rise of evidence-based medicine and the extension of this to bioethics, where ethical arguments should either be tested by empirical evidence or ethical decisions should be grounded in the best scientific evidence. Second, the development of clinical ethics as a distinct field, which has a greater focus on the specificities of actual practice than mainstream bioethics. Finally, the increasing dissatisfaction with the discipline of bioethics as exemplified by the social science critique. Draper and Ives have argued that it is this critique that has been one of the main motivating factors behind the increase in empirical research conducted by bioethicists. It is beyond the remit of this editorial to consider in depth why bioethics as an academic discipline is changing and this is possibly more a topic for a sociology of ethics. However, there is no doubt that more empirical studies are now conducted in bioethics and there is an increasing focus on the role of empirical research in moral deliberation (see for example the article by Kon in American Journal of Bioethics and the large number of associated commentaries and the special edition of Bioethics in 2009). This ‘empirical turn’ has provoked extensive debate around such questions as:

A sociology ‘of’ or a sociology ‘for’ education? The New Zealand experience of the dilemma

The sociology of education in New Zealand, as in other countries, is affected by the dilemma inherent to the discipline, namely: is it a sociology of education or a sociology for education? In this article I analyse three factors in which the dilemma is played out: ‘cultural oppositionism’ in the indigenous (kaupapa Maori) approach, critical policy research and the role of empirical research. I argue that a sociology for education is fundamentally weakened by its politicisation, a flaw not helped by the difficulties in drawing political goals from moral imperatives. In contrast a sociology of education, which uses the strengths of empirical research and theoretical analysis, offers the better hope of renewal for, what is, in New Zealand, a moribund discipline.

Categorizing Empirical Research in Bioethics: Why Count the Ways?

Categorizing Empirical Research in Bioethics: Why Count the Ways?

Answering the ‘So What?’ Question for Empirical Research in Bioethics

At the conclusion of an interesting target article on the role of empirical research in bioethics, Alexander Kon (2009) asserts that, “The ultimate goal of empirical inquiry is to improve care” (59...

The Role of Empirical Research in Bioethics

There has long been tension between bioethicists whose work focuses on classical philosophical inquiry and those who perform empirical studies on bioethical issues. While many have argued that empirical research merely illuminates current practices and cannot inform normative ethics, others assert that research-based work has significant implications for refining our ethical norms. In this essay, I present a novel construct for classifying empirical research in bioethics into four hierarchical categories: Lay of the Land, Ideal Versus Reality, Improving Care, and Changing Ethical Norms. Through explaining these four categories and providing examples of publications in each stratum, I define how empirical research informs normative ethics. I conclude by demonstrating how philosophical inquiry and empirical research can work cooperatively to further normative ethics.

Faith-Based Programs and the Role of Empirical Research

After some decades of being subject to neglect or contempt, faith-based social care programs are receiving increased attention and resources enabling them to undertake a greater role in the national network of human services. Faith-based programs receiving public support can expect to be rightly scrutinized by the public, in terms of their ability to attain professed program goals. The tools of conventional empirically-oriented program evaluation research have tremendous potential to help demonstrate the effectiveness of faith-based programs, which will justify their receipt of ongoing support from public funds. Negative research findings can be properly scrutinized by the faith-based community of service providers to help make tough, data-based, decisions on funding priorities. Several examples are described, illustrating how various types of faith-based programs have profitably participated in program evaluation studies.

The Role of Empirical Research in Informing Debates About the Constitutionality of School Choice

ABSTRACT Federal constitutional law currently permits choice programs that include religious schools only if they provide parents with “genuine and independent choice”; as the leading federal case demonstrates, whether this test is satisfied is an interesting and difficult empirical question. State doctrine regarding establishment of religion can be similarly empirically informed. School choice programs must also be consistent with the education clauses of state constitutions, which require state education systems to be “public” and to meet quality baselines. Determining whether these requirements are met also raises many questions that empirical school choice research can address. doi:10.1300/J467v01n03_12

What is the role of empirical research in bioethical reflection and decision-making? An ethical analysis.

The field of bioethics is increasingly coming into contact with empirical research findings. In this article, we ask what role empirical research can play in the process of ethical clarification and decision-making. Ethical reflection almost always proceeds in three steps: the description of the moral question, the assessment of the moral question and the evaluation of the decision-making. Empirical research can contribute to each step of this process. In the description of the moral object, first of all, empirical research has a role to play in the description of morally relevant facts. It plays a role in answering the "reality-revealing questions" (what, why, how, who, where and when), in assessing the consequences and in proposing alternative courses of action. Secondly, empirical research plays a role in assessing the moral question. It must be acknowledged that research possesses "the normative power of the factual," which can also become normative by suppressing other norms. However, inductive normativity should always be balanced out by a deductive form of normativity. Thirdly, empirical research also has a role to play in evaluating the decision-making process. It can rule out certain moral choices by pointing out the occurrence of certain unexpected consequences or effects. It can also be useful, however, as a sociology of bioethics in which the discipline of bioethics itself becomes an object of research.

Rejoinder to Stuart Soroka, “Policy Agenda-Setting Theory Revisited: A Critique of Howlett on Downs, Baumgartner and Jones, and Kingdon”

I am pleased to respond to Stuart Soroka's set of criticisms of the concepts, methodology and conclusions of my research into Canadian federal agenda-setting. My two articles were not intended to be the last word on the subject, and I am glad to see that they have sparked some interest and, hopefully, some future additional research into the subject. That having been said, let me make several points with respect to the central issues raised in the discussion and the general arguments made about the role of empirical research in the policy sciences.