Why Research?

Reasons why people do research: people get involved in research because its.......
(L Straker PT Curtin University)

Interesting:

As a student there have probably been occasions when you has a question which irritated you. It was like an itch. The search for the answer to this question was satisfying in the same way scratching an itch is satisfying. As a clinician you will probably regularly develop questions which you want to know the answer for. Often, the only way to find the answer will be to do some research. Leading researchers have often been motivated into research by some mental "itch".

Challenging

Being bright, intelligent people, most of us need some kind of mental challenge to fulfill you. Research thus becomes a necessary part of many professional life necessary to keep motivation and interest in their professions.

Justifying

As an individual professional we need to be able to justify what we do with rationale evidence. Colleagues within your profession, relatives and friends will want to know whether what you do is worthwhile. You might have spent 4 years learning something. All that blood, sweat and tears has to be worth something if you are to have pride in yourself.

Powerful

Knowledge is Power. Many of us might have worked in large organisations where power is very hierachial. As a professional you will automatically be given some power and authority, but often not a lot. However, if you have knowledge either from your own research or from the literature that provides you with power you would not otherwise have. If you do this on a number of occassions, you in turn will become an "authority" with power.

Accountable

There is an increasing requirement on industries to be publicly accountable. the community pays for most services, so it has the fight to know what you provide, and that it is effective and appropriate.

Necessary

As far as physiotherapy and the health industry, the maximun amount our community can afford to provide services for the community has probably been reached. However, the demand for funds is increasing rapidly. Our population is aging, meaning there are more people more prone to sickness, more sick people surviving longer, and less abled bodies people making money to pay for the health services. As technological advances are made, new ways of expending money are generated. It is therefore, inevitable that there will be an increasing competition for limited health funds. If the physiotherapy profession cannot justify the effectiveness and appropriateness of its service they will not be funded. Less funding will mean fewer physiotherapy jobs, less physiotherapy work conducted, and less opportunity to develop the profession meaning less evidence to justify what we do. The only way to justify what we do is by research. research is therefore essential for a professions survival.

Useful

Physiotherpsy is a mixture of art and science, with the science part being a fairly late edition. There are this many unanswered questions. The information gained by research can therefore be very useful in providing answers to things you need to know. For example, a physiotherpist may be considering buying a new piece of EPA equipment and need to know which will be most effective for the types of conditions you see. Only research can answer this.

Reason Why Physiotherpists Would Use Research.

A clinican would use research....

to better understand disorder
to better understand the relationship of treatment to disorder
to determine the effectiveness of a technique/modality/procedure
to communicate with colleagues
to know what to say to patients
to justify using a technique/modality/procedure
to justify their role

An Administrator would use research ....

to describe a department
to help develop a department
to jsutify department size, role, services

A Teacher would use research....

to determine better ways of helping students learn

A Student would use research...

to gain knowledge from other peoples research
to gain understanding of uses and limitations of research
to generate new knowledge