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Related Experiment Videos

Can we research suffering?

A W Frank1

  • 1University of Calgary.

Qualitative Health Research
|May 8, 2001
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Research on illness struggles to define suffering, a lived reality. Social science language may worsen suffering by imposing external categories on personal experiences, suggesting a need for revised research methods.

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Area of Science:

  • Sociology of Health and Illness
  • Qualitative Research Methods
  • Phenomenology of Suffering

Background:

  • Illness is a significant source of suffering, yet conceptualizing suffering within research remains challenging.
  • Suffering is a lived reality that defies easy categorization and articulation.
  • Existing social science approaches may inadvertently exacerbate suffering.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore the difficulties in researching and conceptualizing suffering in illness.
  • To analyze how social science rhetoric may contribute to the intensification of suffering.
  • To propose alternative research practices that better accommodate the lived reality of suffering.

Main Methods:

  • Theoretical analysis drawing on the work of Dorothy Smith.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Examination of the rhetoric employed in social science research on illness.
  • Conceptual exploration of the relationship between local experience and extralocal categories.

    • Main Results:

    • Social science research often struggles to capture the subjective reality of suffering.
    • The use of extralocal categories in social science inadvertently alienates and increases suffering.
    • A disconnect exists between the lived experience of illness and its academic representation.

    Conclusions:

    • Rethinking the language and categories used in social science research is crucial.
    • Research practices should be adapted to better acknowledge and address the lived reality of suffering.
    • Transforming research methodologies can potentially mitigate the suffering associated with illness.