title: How convergence of research paradigms can improve research on diagnostic judgment.
abstract: The author's purpose is to urge the constructive convergence of two current judgment and decision-making research paradigms. He shows why the heuristics-and-biases approach and the lens-model approach should be placed in the context of two very different metatheories, the coherence metatheory and the correspondence metatheory. The differences between the two research paradigms thus become apparent; they speak to different problems and appeal to different criteria for evaluating performance. Bringing the two into a constructive relationship to one another, however, will not only double the store of knowledge regarding diagnostic judgment and decision making, but also enhance efforts to achieve a cumulative discipline. Isolating these research paradigms from one another--as is done now--stifles theoretical generality, fragments knowledge, and confuses medical decision makers. An example of how convergence can be achieved is provided.
authors.affiliation: Center for Research on Judgment and Policy, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA.
authors.forename: K R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Hammond
mesh_terms: D015982:Bias; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D003933:Diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008128:Logic; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards*