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Question:

Be sure you have answered the self-reflection questions before proceeding

Answer:

Most of the time we do not need to have a detailed knowledge of what a penny looks like. We need to have enough knowledge to distinguish it from other coins and similar round objects. This level of knowledge is perfectly adequate most of the time. When we see the photograph of the penny and compare it with our drawing we see that each of us has distorted the 'real' penny into our subjective impressions of it. Again, in order to carry out most transactions this doesn't matter – our shared sense of what a penny looks like is sufficient to allow us to exchange it without trouble. If someone handed us an orange five dollar bill, however, that's when the problems might start.

By consulting research it's as if we acquire 'valid currency' to spend in our practice. A five dollar bill is 'vouched for' by the Bank. Similarly, evidence based on research comes 'guaranteed' by systematic procedures perfected over many years to produce robust and reliable evidence.

Yet, despite the value of research, how often do we use it to help us decide what to do? While our own clinical experience can be a very rich source of ideas and insights this exercise has shown us that our perceptions are often incomplete. We tend to fill those gaps with guesses, impressions and rules of thumb. In other words we remain limited by our own circumstances. Research knowledge gives us the opportunity to transcend these circumstances with more accurate, detailed and objective knowledge.

We are all familiar with the phrase 'the evidence of our senses'. Our senses, indeed, are sometimes the most solid and persuasive evidence of all. What we can directly see, hear and feel are often the things we can be most sure about. Sometimes, however, our senses can blind us rather than help us see. For example, a situation might remind us so strongly of our own experience that personal feelings rush back to us, distorting our perceptions of the situations. We all have blind spots and tend unconsciously to repeat mistakes rather than learn from them.

Research provides evidence that can be more reliable, objective and robust than the kind of evidence routinely available to us through individual experience and the experiences of our immediate clinical environments.