User:Inorganic-Yogi/sandbox

Evidence is the foundation upon which academic disciplines are built. Having a firm knowledge base is an integral step in the process of subject matter becoming a discipline, but this can only be achieved through the use of evidence to either quantify or qualify the knowledge and data appropriately. Evidence can, however, cause conflict and issues within a discipline if used incorrectly or if the definition of evidence itself is contested between individuals, as has been seen in evidence-based medicine (EBM). EBM has been defined as 'the conscientious, explicit, judicious and reasonable use of modern, best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients,' integrating 'clinical experience and patient values with the best available research information.' This definition really raises the question of what evidence fundamentally is, who has the authority to classify something as evidence and how to distinguish between varying qualities of evidence - evidence therefore has the potential to cause a lot of conflict within the discipline and those involved.