How many studies funded by private companies sponsoring some equipment or technology show negative results. Is there an hidden bias or conflict of interest present?
I don't think effects of funding sources on outcomes, or on the validity or reliability of research itself is limited to private sources with potential or actual conflicts of interest. I've watched topics and specific sponsored projects change abruptly with changes in US government administrations many times. Bias, or the potential for it is everywhere. The burden falls on serious researchers to disclose sources of external support and any other possible conflicts. It's easy enough to hire a consulting firm that will reach any conclusion a sponsors desires; but that's not really research.
Thank you Dr James for your reply...it would be really beneficial if you could share few studies funded by product companies which display negative reports about their own products with reference specifically to healthcare equipments , materials or techniques ...actually we are trying to assess whether such studies show the real picture..
Scientific development is not neutral, it depends on the prevailing values of those who finance it, those who develop it and in what political and social context they do it.
Very True Dr Antonio, more so sometimes scientific development can come to a standstill if not for the people who finance it. But this question usually comes up with respect to desired outcomes of a procedure and thier funders
Mam why will a company fund a research which brings out result against their product.
Actually so much of funds are being invested in R&D that every company tries to show their product to be the best.
To make my point, let's take an example from our orthodontic field. We all know by now that fixed functional hardly produce any skeletal change but inspite of this when ever a new appliance appear in the market, it claims to produce skeletal response.
If they won't make such claims then who will go ahead with them.
Rightfully said Dr Gagandeep, but these are the situations which create bias in our minds, actually recently a panel discussion on research trends in Orthodontics, these points were raised...boils down to more funding required from Govt sector for material and appliance research ...the same functional appliance should also be researched without the company funding
Mam was this discussed in OrthoByte 2020.
Mam very rightly brought out by you that research needs to be funded by the federal agencies.
But trust me, in present era it's not easy for any government to she'll out money for R&D.
Even the most developed countries are finding it difficult.
Yes we held a panel discussion in Orthobyte 2020 and we had intense discussion related to funding
Having conflict of interest does not mean that the results are not biased or reliable. An example of conflict of interest is pharmaceutical industry running clinical trials for testing vaccine efficacy and no one can say the results of these clinical trials are not acceptable. Without funding clinical research cannot take place and taking funding from pharmaceutical companies may have conflict of interest.
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