Concept of paradigm shift in public health research.

Research work varies between researchers as they have different beliefs and ways of viewing and interacting within their environment. However, there are certain standards and rules that guide a researcher's beliefs and actions. Such standards or principles can be referred to as a paradigm. The paradigm guides researchers to understand and choose a particular methodology with an understanding of the reasons behind their approach. 1 A paradigm consists of four elements; namely body of theory for the research, the background metaphysical assumptions behind the theory, the epistemological values including norms of rationality of the theory and finally it's exemplars. 2 Paradigms are shifted by change of one theory to another in course of time leading to revolution of scientific thinking over a period of time. The following stages of paradigm has been suggested in a development of science. 2 The first stage is called " Pre-Paradigm ". In this stage, people seeking to understand an observed phenomenon share no common background theory. There is confusion as multiple paradigms are put forward by different schools of thought and scientists may disagree with one another as they propose and support their individual theories. Eventually, one paradigm wins through and becomes the dominant principle. The second stage is " Normal Science " where the scientists normally accepts the core elements of the paradigm as a dogma. They perform experiments that test and prove its efficacy in a range of situation. During normal science, a paradigm gets worked out in detail. In the course of normal science problems that refuse to accept resolution with the paradigm consistently arise. If these " recalcitrant " remain problems long enough, they are considered as " anomalies. " When the anomalies become harder and harder to ignore the reseachers focus and scrutinize the anomalies and attempt to resolve anomalies that give arise to a crisis in normal science. Such a crisis creats question on the core elements of a paradigm that had been previously held dogmatically. In this situation, it is possible for scientists to propose and win wide accepance for significant changes in the theoritical framework. This is called " scientific resolution " in which the scientific community dumps one paradigm in favour of another. When new paradigm takes hold, normal science is resumed and continuos to work until new batch of anomolies occurs. There are basically two types of research paradigm which are used widely by …