Epistemological Beliefs and Knowledge among Physicians: A Questionnaire Survey

Abstract

Background: All sciences share a common underlying epistemological domain, which gives grounds to and characterizes their nature and actions. Insofar as physicians depend on scientific knowledge, it would be helpful to assess their knowledge regarding some theoretical foundations of science. Objectives: 1.To assess resident physicians' knowledge of concepts and principles underlying all sciences. 2. To determine, to what extent physicians' epistemological beliefs and attitudes are compatible with the scientific paradigm. Design: A questionnaire was administered to 161 resident physicians at three hospitals in Lima, Peru. Results: 237 resident physicians were selected, 161 (68%) of whom agreed to answer the survey. 67% of respondents indicated they did not know what epistemology is, 21% were able to correctly define epistemology; 24% of the residents knew the appropriate definition of scientific theory. No respondents knew the philosophical presumptions of science; and 48% took a relativistic stand towards knowledge. Conclusions: There appear to be deficiencies in the knowledge of scientific theoretical foundations among physicians.

University Students' Views on the Nature of Science and Psychology

“…Indeed, according to Sandoval (2004), although complexity of NOS conceptions increases with exposure to science, its principles, and its methods, secondary school and even university students display naïve understandings of NOS. For example, Pena, Paco, and Peralta (2002) found that the understanding of science exhibited by medical practitioners was clearly at variance with most current conceptions of scientific practice in that discipline.…”

Investigating Understandings of Turkish Medical Graduate Students about Nature of Scientific Knowledge, Scientific Method, Characteristics of Scientists and Definition of Science

“…In addition, Pena and Paco showed majority of medical students did not read or follow any sources related to science for a five-year long period and did not know definition and aspects of science [10]. Again, Pena, Paco and Peralta found that no physicians knew the pre-assumptions of science and majority of them did not know definition of scientific theory [11]. Graduate level studies about the aspects of the NOS in medical context were not found in the literature.…”

Investigating the Locus of Control and Epistemological Beliefs of Social Studies Teacher Candidates in Turkey

“…Epistemology, derived from the combination of the Greek words "episteme" meaning "knowledge" and "logos" meaning "word, reason, science, explanation, and theory", is a branch of philosophy that directly deals with the concept of knowledge [2,3]. Epistemology is a branch that investigates the source, nature, and scope of human knowledge, as well as the criteria for determining what constitutes true knowledge or truth [4][5][6].…”

“…In the development of EB, several factors can influence them, including age, gender, education, family structure, culture, parents' educational level, LOC, place of residence, field of study, and cognitive development (intelligence) [4,8,9,24,[40][41][42][43][44][45][46]. One of the factors that affect students' EB is LOC, which is among the individual characteristics.…”