Reason and Rationalization: Modes of Argumentation Among Health-Care Professionals
One of the principal communicative skills that professionals have at their disposal is their mode of argumentation, that is, their logic for presenting knowledge, value, and action claims considered independently of the content of those claims. Even a cursory review of professional discourse reveals that verbal or written statements can advance similar propositions but be structured in radically different ways, employing disparate modes of argumentation or methodology. An editorial in a professional nursing journal may tout the cost-effectiveness of health maintenance organizations (HMOs) on the basis of anecdotal evidence offered by practitioners, while a policy analysis article may promote the same message, offering statistical evidence or a more theoretical motivation. A research monograph read by health economists may present a purely descriptive com- parison of costs in HMOs versus other settings, whereas a text read by execu- tives may prescribe a procedure whereby efficiencies can be realized through HMO contracts.
