Negotiating science and experience in medical knowledge: Gynaecologists on endometriosis

This paper analyses the gynaecological literature on endometriosis, particularly endometriosis classification, to evaluate the epistemological concepts it uses. A qualitative content analysis was conducted on a sample of gynaecological literature published between 1985 and 2000, a period that witnessed the explosion of both evidence-based and patient-centred models of medicine, with their duelling emphases on science and experience. It was found that the discourse of science is used strategically in this literature as a formal epistemology to lend weight to authors' claims and to guide medical thinking and research. However, gynaecologists also use the notion of experience to assert their own credibility and to question the credibility of other experts. In fact, accounts of their own experience and the experiential accounts of their patients are foundational to gynaecologists' claims-making activities, including their engagement with scientific research.