Meaning and measurement: an inclusive model of evidence in health care.
Evidence-based approaches are assuming prominence in many health-care fields. The core ideas of evidence-based health care derive from clinical epidemiology and general internal medicine. The concept of evidence has yet to be analysed systematically; what counts as evidence may vary across disciplines. Furthermore, the contribution of the social sciences, particularly qualitative methodology, has received scant attention. This paper outlines a model of evidence that describes four distinct but related types of evidence: qualitative-personal; qualitative-general; quantitative-general and quantitative-personal. The rationale for these distinctions and the implications of these for a theory of evidence are discussed.
Upshur
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RE
Primary Care Research Unit, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto, Sunnybrook Campus, Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
VanDenKerkhof
E G
EG
Goel
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V
D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D019359:Knowledge; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012106:Research