Wrong Variables or Approaches
The Wakefield study had a number of concerns in terms of the approaches used to carry out the randomized controlled trial. It is evident that the researchers did not take into consideration a few variables that should have been assessed. For instance, the diets of the children are a critical variable to assess whereby it forms the basic foundation of the paper. According to Wakefield (1998), bowel disease was an impact of vaccines which later led to autism. In the assessment of the diet, the researchers would have ruled it out placing blame on the vaccine received. It is also perplexing that the researcher came up with such a conclusion after assessing only 12 study participants. The sample sie is quite small for the researcher to generalize it on the global population. Additionally, parental memory may be biased and unreliable making the data used for the research questionable.
Importance of a Control Group
The control group in a randomized controlled trial is an essential part of conducting research. First and foremost, the control group bears similar characteristics to that of the experimental group. In this way, the researchers are able to identify the effects of medicine or a particular intervention on the health outcomes. In this research study, a control group would help identify whether vaccines were ideally the cause for developing autism in later years. Other variables can also be assessed systematically to provide an accurate inference of the research questions. The control group also provides the researchers with a benchmark from which they can use to compare results at the end of the study. It is assumed that the two groups are comparable as the participants in both have been randomly assigned and there is little risk of the experimenters inflicting bias on the research.
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Did Wakefield deserve to be barred from medical practice?
Following the release of Wakefield’s research and his conclusions that Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine is harmful to the health of the children and is a possible cause for autism, he was barred from medical practice in Britain. His license was revoked and he would then move to the US where he would practice as a scientist. However, it is evident that he should not have been barred from medical practice completely. It is his right as a scientist to question the procedures undertaken by medical workers in the country and across the globe with the possibility of uncovering hidden truths. In this case, Wakefield was unable to uncover the truth that he believed and instead used faulty scientific methods to advocate for his beliefs. Barring him from medical practice would not be an effective method as it only give him a larger audience who will pay to hear his theories and allow for extensive research where he is a major participant.
What were the consequences of his overblown conclusions?
The overblown conclusions made by Wakefield created a major concern in Britain and across the world on the use of the MMR vaccine. There was a public outcry from parents whose children were autistic and a greater concern by soon-to-be parents. It was evident that all of them were calling for more answers as to the certainty of the results published by Wakefield. There were many who believed in the discredited medical practitioner and in so doing significantly rejected all propositions made by the national government. There were more people growing paranoid and calling for extensive research to be carried out to ascertain that the findings of the research were fraudulent.
References
Wakefield, A. J., Murch, S. H., Anthony, A., Linnell, J., Casson, D. M., Malik, M., et al. (1998). RETRACTED: Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children. The Lancet, 351 . Retrieved from http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(97)11096-0.pdf
