title: On ideals of objectivity, judgments, and bias in medical research - A comment on Stegenga.
abstract: By using Stegenga's article Is meta-analysis the platinum standard of evidence as a case study, this paper shows how different notions of objectivity can affect discussions concerning medical research. I argue that the ideal of objectivity that underlies Stegenga's article is both unattainable in practice and insufficient and unnecessary in principle to capture some of the ways in which biases may enter medical knowledge production.
authors.affiliation: Bielefeld University, Department of philosophy, Postfach 100131, 33501, Bielefeld, Germany; University of Johannesburg, Philosophy department, B-ring 6, PO Box 524, Auckland Park, 2006, South Africa. Electronic address: sjukola@uni-bielefeld.de.
authors.forename: Saana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jukola
mesh_terms: D015982:Bias; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D019359:Knowledge; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012961:Sociology / Q000379:methods
keywords: Bias; Medical research; Meta-analysis; Objectivity