Making a Difference, Making Change

2021 ◽  
Vol Publish Ahead of Print ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael V. Relf
Keyword(s):  
Difference Making ◽  
Making A Difference

Making a Difference

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rani Lill Anjum ◽  
Stephen Mumford
Keyword(s):  
Randomized Controlled Trials ◽  
Comparative Studies ◽  
Gold Standard ◽  
Controlled Trials ◽  
Positive Difference ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Difference Making ◽  
Making A Difference ◽  
Difference Makers ◽  
Trial Intervention

One view of what links a cause to an effect is that causes make a difference to whether or not the effect is produced. This assumption is behind comparative studies, such as the method of randomized controlled trials, aimed at showing whether a trial intervention makes a positive difference to outcomes. Comparative studies are regarded as the gold standard in some areas of research but they are also problematic. There can be causes that make no difference and some difference-makers that are not causes. This indicates that difference-making should be taken as a symptom of causation: a feature that accompanies it in some, though not all, cases. Symptoms can be useful in the discovery of causes but they cannot be definitive of causation.

If Counterfactuals Were Excluded from Historical Reasoning . . .

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 370-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yemima Ben-Menahem
Keyword(s):  
Relative Weight ◽  
Historical Reasoning ◽  
Difference Making ◽  
Making A Difference ◽  
Historical Necessity

The argument of this paper is that counterfactuals are indispensable in reasoning in general and historical reasoning in particular. It illustrates the role of counterfactuals in the study of history and explores the connection between counterfactuals and the notions of historical necessity and contingency. Entertaining alternatives to the actual course of events is conducive to the assessment of the relative weight and impact of the various factors that combine to bring about a certain result. Counterfactuals are essentially involved in understanding what it means for an event, an action, or an individual to make a difference. Making a difference, in turn, is shown to be a central category of historical reasoning. Counterfactuals, though sensitive to the description they use, make objective claims that can be confirmed or disconfirmed by evidence.

Appreciating the difference, making a difference

2016 ◽  
Vol 179 (12) ◽  
pp. i-ii
Author(s):  
Luiz Sainz-Pardo
Keyword(s):  
Difference Making ◽  
Making A Difference ◽  
The Difference

Making a Difference: The Experiences of Midwives Working With Women Who Use Illicit Drugs

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 245-254
Author(s):  
Maureen Miles ◽  
Ysanne Chapman ◽  
Karen Francis
Keyword(s):  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Illicit Drugs ◽  
Illicit Drug ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
Harm Minimization ◽  
Difference Making ◽  
Present Complex ◽  
Making A Difference

AIM:This article describes the experiences of midwives who choose to work with pregnant women who use illicit drugs.BACKGROUND:Pregnant women who use illicit drugs present complex challenges for those who choose to work with them. Society’s views on illicit drug use fluctuate from acceptance and harm minimization to reprimand and retribution.METHOD:Qualitative interviews were conducted between June and August 2009 with 12 Australian midwives. A thematic analysis method informed by hermeneutic phenomenology was applied to interpret this data to explicate lived experiences and gain deeper understanding and meanings of this phenomenon.FINDINGS:Three major themes encapsulated the experience: making a difference, making partnerships, and learning to let go. The focus of this article, “making a difference,” included two subthemes of “working on the margins” and “transition and transformation.” The midwives were both rewarded and challenged by the needs of women who use illicit drugs and by the systems in which they worked.CONCLUSIONS:The midwives acknowledged that their aspirations “to make a difference” was not always sufficient when working with women who use illicit drugs. They also require the establishment of maternity services that are compassionate and accessible, including woman–care provider partnerships and continuity of the care environments.

scholarly journals Making a difference in virtue epistemology

Synthese ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabian Hundertmark ◽  
Steven Kindley
Keyword(s):  
Common Core ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Virtue Epistemology ◽  
Epistemic Luck ◽  
Cognitive Achievement ◽  
Testimonial Knowledge ◽  
Difference Making ◽  
Making A Difference ◽  
The Common ◽  
Virtue Reliabilism

AbstractVirtue Reliabilism holds that knowledge is a cognitive achievement—an epistemic success that is creditable to the cognitive abilities of the knowing subject. Beyond this consensus, there is much disagreement amongst proponents of virtue reliabilism about the conditions under which the credit-relation between an epistemic success and a person’s cognitive abilities holds. This paper aims to establish a new and attractive view of this crucial relation in terms of difference-making. We will argue that the resulting theory, Difference-Making Virtue Epistemology, can deal with cases of epistemic luck and testimonial knowledge while revealing the common core of knowledge and other achievements.

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