Focal Length Fluidity: Research Questions in Medical Education Research and Scholarship

Academic Medicine : Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges
Meredith YoungDorene F Balmer

Abstract

Research and scholarship in health professions education has been shaped by intended audience (i.e., producers vs users) and the purpose of research questions (i.e., curiosity driven or service oriented), but these archetypal dichotomies do not represent the breadth of scholarship in the field. Akin to an array of lenses required by scientists to capture images of a black hole, the authors propose the analogy of lenses with different focal lengths to consider how different kinds of research questions can offer insight into health professions research-a microscope, a magnifying glass, binoculars, and telescopes allow us to ask and answer different kinds of research questions. They argue for the relevance of all of the different kinds of research questions (or focal lengths); each provides important insight into a particular phenomenon and contributes to understanding that phenomenon in a different way. The authors propose that research questions can move fluidly across focal lengths. For example, a theoretical question can be made more pragmatic through asking "how" questions ("How can we observe and measure a phenomenon?"), whereas a pragmatic question can be made more theoretic by asking a series of "why" questions ("Why are t...Continue Reading

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Aug 1, 2019·Academic Medicine : Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges·Nadia M BajwaYoon Soo Park
Aug 1, 2019·Academic Medicine : Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges·Michelle E KigerLara Varpio
Aug 1, 2019·Academic Medicine : Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges·Kris SaudekMichael Weisgerber
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Oct 31, 2019·Academic Medicine : Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges·Rachel YudkowskyYoon Soo Park

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Citations

Aug 1, 2019·Academic Medicine : Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges·Bridget C O'BrienYoon Soo Park
Dec 11, 2019·Perspectives on Medical Education·Meredith Young
Aug 10, 2020·Academic Medicine : Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges·Justin L SewellZareen Zaidi
Aug 31, 2021·Advances in Health Sciences Education : Theory and Practice·Dorene F Balmer, Boyd F Richards

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