Response

We appreciate Dr Herbert’s reflections and support her conclusions. Her words remind us all that research is not an end in itself. Following Dr Herbert’s leadership in the late 1980s and since in championing the importance of research in family practice, we must continue to explore how to enable residents “to question assumptions about ‘truth’ and learn something about the process of knowledge creation.”¹ That is, we must continue to question how residency programs can best prepare physicians to connect what is known across disciplines that affect health; to appraise and translate that knowledge; to create new knowledge at both micro (practice and practitioner) and possibly macro levels; and even to apply knowledge responsibly to consequential societal problems.

Our paper² raises the possibility that some learners experience an important component of the residency curriculum as weighted too heavily on investigative perspectives, with insufficient focus on developing the multidimensional nature of scholarship.

This “small study of opinions”¹ was a conscientious, qualitative research inquiry by 2 residents (the first 2 authors). The back story is that these resident colleagues were honest and constructive in voicing their initial lack of enthusiasm for the “core requirement,” and they are to be lauded for finding a means to become “turned on.” That process started with choosing a topic that concerned them, which is what researchers tend to do. Their supervisors (authors of this response) did their best to support a scholarly process. And together, acknowledging reviewers’ and editors’ input, we have brought the voices of residents and recent graduates (the study participants) to a wider audience. It is our opinion that the first 2 authors have achieved Dr Herbert’s original objectives: “demonstrate[ing] the ability to question assumptions about ‘truth’ and learn[ing] something about the process of knowledge creation.”¹

What remains to be seen is how the rest of us respond to learners’ perspectives.

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