The three worlds of health information

The applicability, validity and usefulness of Karl Popper’s ‘Three Worlds’ epistemology is examined, with specific reference to health-care information and knowledge. It is concluded that Popper’s ideas provide a valuable way of understanding this domain and that, in particular, Popper’s controversial ‘World 3’ of objective knowledge is a valid concept.

[1]  J C Wyatt,et al.  10. Management of explicit and tacit knowledge , 2001, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.

[2]  N R Smalheiser,et al.  Using ARROWSMITH: a computer-assisted approach to formulating and assessing scientific hypotheses. , 1998, Computer methods and programs in biomedicine.

[3]  Arnold vander Nat,et al.  Human Knowledge: Classical and Contemporary Approaches , 1995 .

[4]  K. J. Weintraub,et al.  The Humanistic Scholar and the Library , 1980, The Library Quarterly.

[5]  J Neubauer,et al.  The value of nursing. , 1995, Journal of nursing management.

[6]  José Palazzo Moreira de Oliveira,et al.  Knowledge discovery in textual documentation: qualitative and quantitative analyses , 2001, J. Documentation.

[7]  Susan T. Dumais,et al.  Using Latent Semantic Indexing for Literature Based Discovery , 1998, J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci..

[8]  Michael K. Buckland,et al.  Information as Thing , 1991 .

[9]  L. Prusak.  Knowledge in organizations , 1997 .

[10]  P. Ingwersen,et al.  Psychological aspects of information retrieval , 1984 .

[11]  G. Gorry,et al.  Towards the simulation of clinical cognition. Taking a present illness by computer. , 1976, The American journal of medicine.

[12]  Joseph Z. Nitecki.  Metalibrarianship: A Model for Intellectual Foundations of Library Information Science. , 1993 .

[13]  Brian R. Gaines.  A conceptual framework for person-computer interaction in complex systems , 1988, IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern..

[14]  R. Swinburne.  OBJECTIVE KNOWLEDGE: AN EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH , 1973 .

[15]  Willem Hirs.  XV. The use of Terminological Principles and Methods in Medicine , 1993 .

[16]  Karl R. Popper,et al.  Epistemology Without a Knowing Subject , 1968 .

[17]  Roy Davies,et al.  The Creation of New Knowledge by Information Retrieval and Classification , 1989, J. Documentation.

[18]  J. H. Bennett,et al.  Becoming a medical information master: feeling good about not knowing everything. , 1994, The Journal of family practice.

[19]  Brian R. Gaines,et al.  Methodology in the Large: Modeling All There Is , 1984 .

[20]  Don R. Swanson,et al.  Intervening in the Life Cycles of Scientific Knowledge Patrick Wilson, The Value of Currency , 1993, Libr. Trends.

[21]  B. Fricker.  Psychofonie® – Wesen, Wirkungsnachweis und Indikation der neuen zerebralen Audioregulationstherapie , 1999, Complementary Medicine Research.

[22]  Rafael Capurro,et al.  Hermeneutik der Fachinformation , 1986 .

[23]  Lynne McKechnie,et al.  The use of theory in information science research , 2001, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[24]  B L Humphreys,et al.  Growth patterns in the National Library of Medicine's serials collection and in Index Medicus journals, 1966-1985. , 1994, Bulletin of the Medical Library Association.

[25]  K. Popper.  All life is problem solving , 1997 .

[26]  K. Popper.  Unended Quest: An Intellectual Autobiography , 1976 .

[27]  Neil R. Smalheiser,et al.  Information discovery from complementary literatures: Categorizing viruses as potential weapons , 2001, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[28]  J C Wyatt,et al.  5. Reading journals and monitoring the published work , 2000, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.

[29]  K. J. McGarry,et al.  The changing context of information: an introductory analysis , 1981 .

[30]  Marc Weeber,et al.  Using concepts in literature-based discovery: Simulating Swanson's Raynaud-fish oil and migraine-magnesium discoveries , 2001, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[31]  Vimla L. Patel,et al.  Expertise and Tacit Knowledge in Medicine , 1999 .

[32]  C. P. Goodman,et al.  The Tacit Dimension , 2003 .

[33]  J. Wyatt,et al.  INFORMATION FOR CLINICIANS Use and sources of medical knowledge , 1991, The Lancet.

[34]  S. Jenny,et al.  Heilkunde und medizinische Konzepte , 1999, Complementary Medicine Research.

[35]  Don R. Swanson.  Libraries and the Growth of Knowledge , 1979, The Library Quarterly.

[36]  Joan B. Fiscella.  Embedded Philosophy: A Case For Librarianship As Philosophy In Practice , 1989 .

[37]  Neil R. Smalheiser,et al.  Implicit Text Linkages between Medline Records: Using Arrowsmith as an Aid to Scientific Discovery , 1999, Libr. Trends.

[38]  D. Sackett,et al.  Evidence based medicine: what it is and what it isn't , 1996, BMJ.

[39]  S Antrobus,et al.  Developing the nurse as a knowledge worker in health--learning the artistry of practice. , 1997, Journal of advanced nursing.

[40]  D. Swanson.  Undiscovered Public Knowledge , 1986 .

[41]  Kenneth A. Cory.  Discovering Hidden Analogies in an Online Humanities Database , 1999, Libr. Trends.

[42]  J. Wyatt,et al.  Use and sources of medical knowledge. , 1991, Lancet.

[43]  David Rudd,et al.  Do we really need World III? Information science with or without Popper , 1983 .

[44]  Charles Cole,et al.  Activity of understanding a problem during interaction with an “enabling” information retrieval system: modeling information flow , 1999 .

[45]  Shaoyi He.  Translingual alteration of conceptual information in medical translation , 2000 .

[46]  V. Florance.  Medical knowledge for clinical problem solving: a structural analysis of clinical questions. , 1992, Bulletin of the Medical Library Association.

[47]  Charles Cole,et al.  Activity of Understanding a Problem during Interaction with an "Enabling" Information Retrieval System: Modeling Information Flow , 1999, J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci..

[48]  Stephen K. Probert.  The metaphysical assumptions of the (main) soft systems methodology advocates , 1997 .

[49]  [Information and medicine]. , 1953, Concours medical.

[50]  M S Blois,et al.  Conceptual issues in computer-aided diagnosis and the hierarchical nature of medical knowledge. , 1983, The Journal of medicine and philosophy.

[51]  Peter Checkland,et al.  Systems Thinking, Systems Practice , 1981 .

[52]  Roy Davies.  Intelligent Information Systems: Progress and Prospects , 1986 .

[53]  A. J. Meadows.  Knowledge and communication : essays on the information chain , 1991 .

[54]  Christine Urquhart,et al.  Personal knowledge: a clinical perspective from the value and evince projects in health library and information services , 1998, J. Documentation.

[55]  Shaoyi He,et al.  Translingual alteration of conceptual information in medical translation , 2000, J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci..

[56]  Jacqueline Bourdeau,et al.  Towards an Epistemology for Guided Discovery Tutoring: The Popperian Connection , 1992, Intelligent Tutoring Systems.

[57]  Kirsti Malterud,et al.  For Personal Use. Only Reproduce with Permission from the Lancet Publishing Group. the Nature of Clinical Knowledge the Art and Science of Clinical Knowledge: Evidence beyond Measures and Numbers Qualitative Research Series , 2022 .

[58]  S Jenny.  [Medicine and medical concepts]. , 1999, Forschende Komplementarmedizin.

[59]  John D. Barrow,et al.  PI in the sky : counting, thinking, and being / John D. Barrow , 1992 .

[60]  S. Tanenbaum,et al.  Knowing and acting in medical practice: the epistemological politics of outcomes research. , 1994, Journal of health politics, policy and law.

[61]  Charles Cole,et al.  Using Kintsch's discourse comprehension theory to model the user's coding of an informative message from an enabling information retrieval system , 2000, J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci..

[62]  Brian R. Gaines,et al.  HCI in the Next Millennium: Supporting the World Mind , 1999, INTERACT.

[63]  Davis Baird,et al.  Encapsulating Knowledge: The Direct Reading Spectrometer , 1998 .

[64]  S. French.  Professional Judgment: A Reader in Clinical Decision Making , 1988 .

[65]  R. Abbott,et al.  Information transfer and cognitive mismatch: a Popperian model for studies of public understanding , 1997, J. Inf. Sci..

[66]  Don R. Swanson,et al.  Online search for logically-related noninteractive medical literatures: A systematic trial-and-error strategy , 1989, JASIS.

[67]  James J. Cimino,et al.  Development of Expertise in Medical Practice , 1999 .

[68]  S. D. Neill,et al.  The Reference Process and the Philosophy of Karl Popper. , 1985 .

[69]  Brian R. Gaines,et al.  A Conceptual Framework for Person-Computer Interaction in Distributed Systems , 1988 .

[70]  Don R. Swanson,et al.  A second example of mutually isolated medical literatures related by implicit, unnoticed connections , 1989, JASIS.

[71]  D. Slawson,et al.  What clinical information do doctors need? , 1997 .

[72]  John D. Barrow,et al.  Pi in the sky , 1984, Nature.

[73]  J C Wyatt.  4. Keeping up: Continuing education or lifelong learning? , 2000, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.

[74]  Neil R. Smalheiser,et al.  Artificial Intelligence An interactive system for finding complementary literatures : a stimulus to scientific discovery , 1995 .

[75]  S. D. Neill,et al.  The Dilemma of the Subjective in Information Organisation and Retrieval , 1987, J. Documentation.

[76]  J R Moehr.  Health informatics--a scientific challenge? , 1994, Methods of information in medicine.

[77]  J Dowie,et al.  Clinical intuition and clinical analysis: expertise and the cognitive continuum , 1988 .

[78]  Helmi B. Sonneveld,et al.  Terminology : applications in interdisciplinary communication , 1993 .

[79]  S. D. Neill,et al.  Brookes, Popper, and objective knowledge , 1982 .

[80]  J R Scherrer,et al.  Modeling concepts in medicine for medical language understanding. , 1998, Methods of information in medicine.

[81]  B. C. Brookes.  The foundations of information science. Part I. Philosophical aspects , 1980 .

[82]  J Wyatt.  Same information, different decisions: format counts , 1999, BMJ.

[83]  Michael D. Gordon,et al.  Toward Discovery Support Systems: A Replication, Re-Examination, and Extension of Swanson's Work on Literature-Based Discovery of a Connection between Raynaud's and Fish Oil , 1996, J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci..

[84]  B. C. Brookes.  The foundations of information science , 1980 .

[85]  D. Swanson.  Fish Oil, Raynaud's Syndrome, and Undiscovered Public Knowledge , 2015, Perspectives in biology and medicine.

[86]  Alexandre A Ardichvili,et al.  Tacit knowledge in professional practice , 2000 .

[87]  Juup Essers,et al.  Nonaka's subjectivist conception of knowledge in corporate knowledge management , 1997 .

[88]  D A Evans,et al.  Toward Representations for Medical Concepts , 1991, Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making.

[89]  Frits Staal,et al.  Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science Iii , 1968 .

[90]  Gale Moore,et al.  Information and Medicine: The Nature of Medical Descriptions , 1986 .

[91]  K. Malterud,et al.  The legitimacy of clinical knowledge: Towards a medical epistemology embracing the art of medicine , 1995, Theoretical medicine.

[92]  M. Ebell,et al.  Analysis of questions asked by family doctors regarding patient care , 1999, BMJ.

[93]  K. Popper.  Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach , 1972 .

[94]  M. Notturno,et al.  Science and the Open Society: the future of Karl Popper's philosophy , 2000 .

[95]  Timothy M. Cox,et al.  The Oxford Textbook of Medicine , 1983 .