- Docente: Elisabetta Lalumera
- Credits: 1
- SSD: M-FIL/02
- Language: Italian
- Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
- Campus: Forli
- Corso: Single cycle degree programme (LMCU) in Medicine and Surgery (cod. 5905)
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from Apr 03, 2023 to May 19, 2023
Learning outcomes
At the end of the 4 classes (8 hours) students will be
- able to recognize the architecture of scientific method and of the basic phiosophical issues arising with respect to science and method
- familiar with the basics of research planning and with knds of study designi in medical research
- aware of ethical questions about medical research
Course contents
Basic philosophical and conceptual issues. What is science. Laws, systematicity, theories. Demarcation between science and non-science. Medicine as a science. The logical architecture of scientific method: observation, hypothesis, control. Kinds of scientific reasoning: deduction, induction, abduction.
Research in medicine. Kinds of research (basic, applied, qualitative and quantitative). The research problem, role of publication databases, kinds of experimental design, observational studies and the problem of correlation-causation, RCT and clinical trials, meta analyses, presentation of the hierarchy of evidence (Evidence-based medicine).
Research ethics. The role of ethical committees. Research with human subjects. Controversial cases. Objectivity in research: replicabiliy, intersubjectivity, the role of values.
Readings/Bibliography
Slides uploaded after each class are the main text.
Further reading: Lalumera, E. (2021) Medicina e metodo sperimentale. Un'introduzione filosofica. Esculapio, Bologna
Teaching methods
Traditional in-presence lectures with discussion.
Assessment methods
Oral test. 2 or 3 questions aimed at verifying that the course material has been read and understood.
Teaching tools
Lecture notes in pdf or ppt. Additional optional articles and resources uploaded on Virtuale.
Office hours
See the website of Elisabetta Lalumera