Public Health · Vol. 2, No. 2 · 2025 · pp. 42–45 · e-ISSN 2472-3878

Medical Research from Realism to Abstractism: “Everything we Call Real is Made of Things we cannot Call Real” (Niels Bohr, 1885-1962)

Faaiz Alhamdani

Department of Oral and Maxillofacial, College of Dentistry, Ibn Sina University, Baghdad, IraqIraq

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17140/phoj-2-119 · Published 2025-09-04 · Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 · © 2025 The Author(s)

Also available as PDF (figures and tables appear in the PDF).

Abstract

During the last 2 decades, the medical research underwent a gradual transition from purely quantitative research (post-positivist) to endorse qualitative research (interpretivist) par-adigm. This article tries to shed a light on this transition and use fine art examples as analogy. For the sake of clarification it is important to explain some of the terms used in this article for readers whom their interest might be out of the scope of qualitative research or fine art.

Keywords: Blow-out fracture; Diplopia; Enophthalmos

Conclusion

The tendency for medical research to move toward the inter pretivist stance might reflect the awareness of medical researchers toward the imperfections of quantitative (post-positivist) research. It also reflects the need for more holistic approach in health care.

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