The Researcher/Clinician Dichotomy

1
The Researcher/Clinician Dichotomy

• Fall 2003

2
Nearly every scientist has experienced, in a
moment of discovery something akin to reverence
and awe. Carl Sagan
3
Research Goals at an M.S. Level (Bain, 1991)

1. Help students to become competent consumers of
   literature
2. Help students become competent users of research
   technology for clinical decisions

4
Competent Consumers

• Critically evaluate the literature
• Determine cautions in interpreting the literature
• Determine applications to clients served
• Determine how procedures might be modified to
  better serve clients

5
Research Technology for Informed Clinical
Decisions

• Scientific Method
• Single-subject designs

6
Scientific Method

1. Recognition of a problem that can be studied
   objectively
2. Collection of data through observation or
   experiment
3. Drawing of conclusions based on analysis of the
   data that have been collected.

7
Clinical Decisions Assessment

1. Who is disordered (is there a problem? If so,
   what is it?)
2. What is the etiology?
3. What is the prognosis?

8
Clinical Decisions Treatment

• Who should receive what kind of intervention?
• What should be treated?
• How should we provide intervention?
• Alternating treatments design (ATD)
• Is intervention effective?
• Single-subject designs
• When should intervention be terminated?
• ABA design

9
Benefits of a Clinician-Investigator (Silverman,
1977)

• The job is more stimulating, less routine
• Clinicians are probably more effective when they
  determine the answers to questions about their
  intervention or assessment when they ask
  answerable questions and state testable
  hypotheses
• More aware of the tentative nature of answers
  and hypotheses which is one of the most
  important aspects because there is no answer to
  a question or test of hypothesis that is final

10
We see the practitioner as an applied scientist
or a clinical scientist who uses the clinic or
school as a laboratory for the application of the
scientific method toward the end of providing the
best clinical services possible. (Ventry
Schiavetti, 1980)
11
When scientific clinicians approach clinical
problems in a scientific manner, they are
conducting research of the most important type,
with the result being the intent of delivering
the best clinical management possible. (Ringel,
1972)