PPI 2015 Unit II
PPI 2015 Unit II
6. Lesson 1c The thorny question of "representativeness"
A commonly-expressed concern by researchers is whether patients who get involved are ‘representative’. The question concerns whether a patient or small group of patients can represent the views of a larger group of people rather than just their own views or the views of a particular section of society (usually white, middle class, older people). But is the concern reasonable? If you consider the range of people with diabetes, for example, asking a small number of patients to represent the diverse views and experiences of all patients with diabetes is unrealistic. And does anyone ask the clinician if their views are representative of all clinicians? The aim of involving patients is to seek patient perspectives; including more patients provides a greater variety of perspectives. If people with specific characteristics are needed, such as those from a particular ethnic group, they will need to be sought out.
|
|
Stop & think Q1. How would you find people with diabetes to involve in a research study? (Remember – this is not about recruiting participants!) See http://www.invo.org.uk/posttyperesource/how-to-find-people-to-involve/ for some ideas. |
