The philosophy and nature of surgical research

The author's aim is to stimulate potential surgical scientists to appreciate various aspects of surgical research, including its definition, current image, importance, motivation and philosophy, as well as the personal qualities of a surgical scientist. As guidelines for the potential surgical scientist the nature of the scientific method is described in terms of the following 16 phases of what one might call "the cycle of surgical research": recognize an unsolved clinical problem; think; review the scientific literature; ask an intelligent question; formulate an hypothesis; plan the research protocol; seek collaboration; apply for funding; conduct the investigation; collect and analyse the data; interpret the data; draw valid conclusions; answer the original question; present results at a meeting; publish a scientific paper; apply new knowledge to the original problem.