Theory-Based Research Eyle, John. Changing Research Proposal

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On the part of his fellow scientists, Snow's research was resisted because it was conducted with intellectual 'leaps' of logic in his determination to find the cause, as opposed to Farr's more technical and methodological approach. Farr had the more comprehensive health surveillance program, but Snow's hypothesis and instincts were correct. Snow drew upon past studies involving smallpox, cowpox, and syphilis, to extrapolate parallel examples of how the disease was transmitted, while Farr clung to the airborne model of disease transmission popular at the time even after reviewing such studies. Farr stated that non-living or zymotic material was transmitted through the air, and hence the closer the quarters of the affected, the more apt the material would be transmitted through the air.

The commonly-held belief was that fecalized air and water were the primary conduits of the disease. Farr believed primarily that the transmission was "miasmatic" and the prevalence in certain areas like slums and prisons, where close contact by air-born bacteria was thought to be prevalent supported this conclusion. Models that confirm rather than contradict existing evidence are altogether more 'comforting' to the scientific community. To his credit, however, Farr did concede that the waters were highly polluted in areas where the epidemics had occurred, although he disagreed with Snow's conclusions that water was the primary means of transmission. As far as Farr was concerned, sewage-filled water was simply a conduit for air-born miasma.

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But as he examined statistics over a period of time, it became clear that the epidemics were largely concentrated around the East London water field, specifically the Old Forge reservoir. The arrangements of the origins of the water of certain districts corresponded to outbreaks, and when another source of water had been used during one period by the water supply company for the city that was free of sewage, no cholera outbreak occurred at all.

Of the two men, Snow was more single-minded in his approach, Farr was more comprehensive. Snow focused on empirical evidence that supported his hypothesis and tended to ignore anomalous evidence, Farr cast a wide net for statistics. While Farr might seem to be the better scientist, his broad-minded and careful methodology also caused him to fall into a 'trap' -- by following the common medical wisdom to look for 'horses not zebras when you hear a stampede,' he did not give Snow's hypothesis the weight it deserved at the outset of his investigations. Snow's single-mindedness ultimately proved paradigm-shifting. But even until the end, Farr believed that his analysis of soil elevation must play some role in transmission, unwilling to accept such a simple explanation for the cholera transmission as offered by Snow's ultimately correct hypothesis......

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