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Forensic epistemology: A need for research and pedagogy.

ABSTRACT: This is the third in a series of articles reporting on forensic epistemology. Our first two research articles presented scientific results that are based in experimental design; including quantitative and qualitative responses from forensic science practitioners to scenarios and evidence. Based on a synthesis of this research there is evidence of a knowledge gap in formal reasoning for some forensic practitioners, and a limited understanding of case-specific research. Combining these results with a review of the current literature in the field of forensic reasoning, we now offer evidence of teaching and research strategies that can help increase the epistemic status (Confidence in, and justification of knowledge) of forensic science claims. This paper focuses on an integrated narrative review using hermeneutic methods of analysis to identify: (i) the epistemic state of forensic science; (ii) strategies to increase of knowledge; (iii) the need for collaboration between practitioners and academics; and, (iv) areas for future research.

SUBMITTER: Illes M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7219189 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Forensic epistemology: A need for research and pedagogy.

Illes Mike M Wilson Paul P Bruce Cathy C

Forensic science international. Synergy 20191213

This is the third in a series of articles reporting on forensic epistemology. Our first two research articles presented scientific results that are based in experimental design; including quantitative and qualitative responses from forensic science practitioners to scenarios and evidence. Based on a synthesis of this research there is evidence of a knowledge gap in formal reasoning for some forensic practitioners, and a limited understanding of case-specific research. Combining these results wit ...[more]

PMID: 32411999

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Project description:Background Despite the recent trend toward developing and applying quality control measures in the forensic science disciplines, there is a heightened interest to efforts to ameliorate disparate quality among laboratories through the enforcement of standards and best practices.Objective This protocol aims to set up the Arab Forensic Laboratories Accreditation Center (AFLAC) to act as a key driving legal force for accreditation of the different forensic laboratories in the Arab region.Methods Upon its development, the Forensic Laboratory-Arabian Gate (FLAG) platform will serve as a preliminary stage for the AFLAC, and 2 preparatory steps will be achieved through the FLAG platform: the first one is a scoping study to analyze the international guidelines regarding the forensic laboratory practices in different specialties, and the second one is mapping surveys to explore how the international and national guidelines are translated into practice in Arab forensic laboratories. Development of the Arab forensic laboratories accreditation center will be initiated by building the AFLAC quality management system, which comprises formation of the forensic science committees to achieve the standards required for accreditation in each discipline. This will be followed by the attainment of regional accreditation recognition of the Arab Accreditation Cooperation (ARAC) and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation. This recognition necessitates achieving International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission 17011 standard requirements prior to official application to the ARAC.Results The first phase of our work (the FLAG platform) began in February 2022 and is expected to end in December 2022. The FLAG platform was proposed to the Arab Society of Forensic Sciences and Forensic Medicine in March 2022, and we received approval to host this web development project. Subsequent phases are anticipated to begin in January 2023 and are expected to end in 2025.Conclusions This work describes our approach to provide a valuable tool for forensic laboratory accreditation services to promote the best practice and its consistency in the field of forensic sciences in the Arab region.International registered report identifier (irrid)PRR1-10.2196/36778.

Project description:BackgroundThe quality of medical education is a key factor. The fact that mostly physicians teach tomorrow's physicians without acquiring pedagogical skills before becoming a teacher is a cause of concern. In Hungary, where traditional teaching methods are common, and teachers have not had pedagogical courses in medical education there has not been any research dealing with the issue. On the one hand, we aimed with this cross-sectional study to examine the attitudes of teachers towards learning outcomes of medical students to get a view about the opinions about their importance and rate of delivery. On the other hand, we analyzed the pedagogical skills of teachers from the students' and teachers' perspective in Hungary.MethodsData collection through self-reported questionnaires in online form in all the four Hungarian higher education institutions offering medical education was carried out among teachers and students with active student legal status in 2017. We validated the questionnaires of the two respondents' groups. We used gap matrices to represent the correspondences of the delivery and perceived importance of the learning outcomes. We calculated averages of the pedagogical skills and compared them with t-tests.ResultsThe response rates are 11.18% in case of the students (1505) and 24.53% in case of the teachers (439). The results indicate the lack of concordance between the rates of the learning outcomes in terms of their importance and delivery - no positive gap can be observed -, and the need for pedagogical skills among teachers and students. The opinions of students compared to teachers' are all statistically higher according to the averages.ConclusionsThe study results underline the necessity of a transition and paradigm shift in medical education from delivering solely professional knowledge towards pedagogically prepared practice and patient oriented teaching methods as well as acquiring pedagogical knowledge as part of the training of medical teachers in Hungary.

Project description:Nearly 90 % of allegations of biomedical research misconduct in the United States are dismissed by responsible institutions without any faculty assessment or auditable record. Recently, members of the U.S. Congress have complained that the penalties for those against whom findings of research misconduct are made are too light and that too few grant funds associated with research misconduct have been recovered for use by other researchers and taxpayers. Here we discuss the laws that empower federal agencies that can oversee investigations of biomedical research misconduct: the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), both located within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Research misconduct investigations pertaining to U.S. physical sciences funded through the National Science Foundation (NSF) are overseen by the NSF's OIG. While OIGs may provide some improvement over the ORI in the handling of research misconduct, we have found that a much more serious flaw exists which undermines an ability to conduct performance audits of the effectiveness by which allegations of research misconduct are handled in the United States. Specifically, sufficient data do not need to be retained by U.S. research institutions funded by HHS or NSF to allow effective audit of why allegations of research misconduct are dismissed before being seen by faculty inquiry or investigative committees. U.S. federal Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS/Yellow Book), if applied to the research misconduct oversight process, would allow a determination of whether the handling of allegations of biomedical research misconduct actually functions adequately, and if not, how it might be improved. In particular, we propose that independent, external peer review under GAGAS audit standards should be instituted without delay in assessing the performance of ORI, or any other similarly tasked federal agency, in handling allegations of research misconduct.

Dataset Information

Forensic epistemology: A need for research and pedagogy.

Publications

Forensic epistemology: A need for research and pedagogy.

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