ITGS EE: Surgical Simulations

[Sung]

My research question is: "To what degree do surgical simulations with augmented or virtual reality offer more effective training than traditional practice methods?" 

a) Is this question narrow/broad enough to write an EE on?

b) How can I better word the question?

c) (optional) Does anyone see any obvious issues or benefits about this research question that I am not seeing? (IE: inherent shortcomings or clear ethical/social issues I can talk about?)

P.S. I currently have about 10 sources in regard to surgical simulations and their effectiveness. About how many more should I get?

Edited August 30, 2017 by Sung

[Jaysun]

IT and medicine/surgery is a very popular, and also very important topic in the course, especially moving forwards. It also has a myriad of topics on both the IT and GS side, from different technologies to its ethical impacts as well as how it will be implemented, used and perceived.

Starting with your question. "To what degree" is not a common RQ beginning. I'm not saying it can't be used, it's just that IB and all past papers seem to favor "To What Extent" although there's hardly any difference between the two. Your question slightly favors the broad side, as it uses the general word "effective". However, by writing a clear abstract and introduction in your paper about what you are going to define as "effective" will probably make your questions feasible, so I think you can leave the RQ.

The immediate questions that emerge from this topic is the bate about technological bugs or shortcomings, which can transition into the argument of who is responsible. You can talk about the risks and rewards, give some background on the development, talk about how this is going to move forward, and most importantly, what the view on this topic is within different communities from differing points-of-view. However, this requires massive amounts of legit data and research, so 10 sources may not be sufficient (it depends on what sources they are). ITGS EEs can have upwards to 40 to 50 sources, given its reliance and dependence on facts, data and opinion. Conducting primary research, such as interviewing patients, doctors, or developers of this technology will also significantly help your paper, so I suggest doing this if this is a possibility.

[Sung]

Thank you very much for your thorough input! I will change the question from "degree" to input, and make sure to provide context behind the word "effective" in my abstract/introduction. 

 

I was also considering the responsible portion of the ethical dilemma on part of the stakeholders; I'm glad I was not the only one who came to that conclusion. My draft is still not due for a while so I will continue researching and gathering data. 

 

Thank you for your advice!