Suggestions For Research Questions Research Articles

A national research agenda for pre-hospital emergency medical services in the Netherlands: a Delphi-study.

BackgroundIn pre-hospital Emergency Medical Services (EMS) more research is needed to direct and underpin care delivery and inform policy. To target future research efforts, this study aimed to determine future research priorities with representatives of the EMS field.MethodsA four-round online Delphi survey was used to discuss different viewpoints and reach consensus on research priorities. A multidisciplinary panel of experts was recruited in the field of pre-hospital EMS and adjoining (scientific) professional organisations (n = 62). 48 research topics were presented in Delphi I, and the panel was asked to rate their importance on a 5-point scale. In Delphi II and III the panel selected their priority research topics, and arguments why and suggestions for research questions were collected and reported back. In Delphi IV appropriateness of the remaining topics and agreement within the expert panel was taken into account to make up the final list of research priorities.ResultsThe response on the Delphi-survey was high: 95 % (n = 59; Delphi I); 97 % (n = 60, Delphi II); 94 % (n = 58, Delphi III); 97 % (n = 60, Delphi IV). The panel reduced the number of research topics from 48 topics in Delphi I to 12 topics in Delphi III. A variety of arguments and suggestions for research questions were collected, giving insight in reasons why research on these topics in the near future is needed.Delphi IV showed an adequate level of agreement with respect to the 12 presented research topics. The following 9 topics were rated as appropriate for the national pre-hospital EMS research agenda: Non-conveyance to the hospital (ranked highest); Performance measures for quality of care; Hand over/registration/exchange of patient data; Care and task substitution; Triage; Assessment of acute neurologic signs & symptoms; Protocols and protocol adherence; Immobilisation; and Open/secure airway.DiscussionsThe research priorities identified in our study resemble those in other studies. However, the topic 'non-conveyance to the hospital' was determined as a priority in this study but not in other studies.ConclusionsThe national pre-hospital EMS research agenda can focus future research efforts to improve the evidence base and clinical practice of pre-hospital emergency medical services. Dissemination and implementation of the research agenda deserves careful attention.

When Bricks Matter: Four Arguments for the Sociological Study of Religious Buildings

Sociologists of religion have had much to say about the social structures impacting religious belief and practice but surprisingly little to say about the physical structures that both shape and constrain religious communities of nearly all traditions. In this paper, we present four arguments for the sociological study of religious buildings. Although we rely heavily on social theory to make these arguments, we also draw on empirical evidence from religious buildings in Guatemala and the United States in order to illustrate our arguments regarding the impact of buildings on religious groups and the communities in which they are located. We close with suggestions for research questions that could contribute both to the field of sociology of religion and the wider discipline of sociology.

Foundational roles for action representations: Comment on “Action semantics: A unifying conceptual framework for the selective use of multimodal and modality-specific object knowledge” by van Elk, van Schie, and Bekkering

Embodiment of conceptual knowledge is one of the most influential ideas to sweep the landscape of cognitive psychology in recent decades [1,2] and as the review by van Elk, van Schie, and Bekkering [6] makes clear, it has deeply affected related subfields as well. We have substantial evidence to support the proposal that sensory and motor representations can affect perceptual and cognitive experiences and that these representations are likely to be integrated in some way with conceptual knowledge. The hard work of distinguishing the functional and epiphenomenal contributions that sensorimotor representations make to processes such as object identification and language comprehension must now begin in earnest [3]. Toward that end, van Elk et al. have provided a framework for understanding some of the contextual influences that govern the involvement of action representations in conceptual processing. They suggested that this framework generates testable predictions regarding the distinction between multimodal and modality-specific representations and the hierarchical control of action. Genuine predictions are very hard to come by when working with frameworks rather than computational models, and what van Elk et al. deliver actually turns out to be suggestions for research questions that might be addressed rather than clear predictions about the results that experiments should produce. Such caution is wise because it is becoming clear that what might be seen as clear and straightforward predictions about the nature and function of action representations often fail when put to empirical test (see [4] for examples involving mental simulation and language comprehension). A striking case of failed expectations regarding action representations comes from a single-cell recording study of hand movements in monkeys [5]. Animals were trained to move their hand forward and to the right or left to contact an illuminated target. They did so while viewing a video image of their hand and the indicated target, rather than viewing the hand and target directly. Distinct populations of neurons in premotor cortex fired when the hand moved to the left versus the right. Rather than coding hand movements directly, however, these populations were actually coding a higher level action goal. This fact was cleverly revealed when the experimenters displayed on the monkey’s monitor not a literal image of their moving hand, but rather a mirror image. Thus, a rightward movement of the hand effected a leftward movement of the image of the hand on the monitor. To capture a target appearing on the left side of the monitor, therefore the monkey was required to make a physical movement of the hand to the right. Under

Spirituality and healing in the sociology of chronic illness

The sociology of health and illness has paid little attention to the part that spiritual experiences and beliefs often play in healing, that is the self-transformation that may enable people to ‘live well' in the face of chronic illness. Part one describes problems that autobiographical accounts of spirituality can create for social theory, both as ‘experience’ and as claims to sources of knowledge beyond the ‘social’. Part two reviews the sociology of chronic illness (1988-2000) and comments on its treatment of spiritual issues. The paper concludes with some suggestions for research questions about spirituality and healing directed towards enhancing the lives of people with chronic illnesses.

Het Schoolvak Nederlands (t2/t1) Als Studieobject Van Toegepaste Taalkunde. Een Onderzoeksagenda

In the first 1990 issue of TTWiA, stock is taken of 25 years of applied linguistics in the Netherlands. Three of the five papers deal with learning and acquiring foreign languages, one with second-language acquisition, and one with ethnic minorities in education (OET (home language instruction) and NT2 (Dutch as a second language)). During the 25 years before 1990, second-language acquisition and foreign-language instruction were the main research areas of applied linguistics. In recent years, the focus of TTWiA has shifted a little, with a considerable number of articles on Dutch as a school subject. At the moment, various developments can be observed in secondary education that have consequences for the course materials and the didactics of the school subject Dutch. In this article, we make a number of suggestions for research questions emerging as a result of developments in the field of applied linguistics.