The motivations for policymakers wanting to clarify a problem are diverse.
Table 1 illustrates how this simple framework can be used to clarify a problem, using malaria treatment in sub-Saharan Africa as an example.
Healthcare administrative database studies and community surveys, for example, which are often published in research literature, can help to clarify a problem and appropriate targets and mobilise support.
More extensive detailed assessment questions are available for each domain as optional tools, if additional probing is necessary to clarify a problem.
Typically, a great deal of work will still need to be done in order to clarify a problem in a way that confirms whether or not there is a need to address it.
Table 2 illustrates how the question discussed here in this sub-section (together with three additional questions) can be used to clarify a problem once it has been related to one or more of: a risk factor, disease or condition; the programmes, services or drugs currently being used; the current health system arrangements; or the current degree of implementation of an agreed upon course of action.
John Wilkins's book admirably tackles the first question by means of the second - offering a deep, thorough, and contextualized understanding of the species problem, clarifying a number of essential issues in that debate, and, in the process, correcting a number of persistent misconceptions about the idea of species from Plato to Darwin.
Sustained shared thinking occurs where "two or more individuals 'work together' in an intellectual way to solve a problem, clarify a concept, evaluate an activity, extend a narrative…Both parties must contribute to the thinking and it must develop and extend the understanding" (Sylva et al., 2003, p. 4).
AI-based theories of scientific discoveries have helped identify and clarify a number of problem-solving strategies.
The children's participation also allowed the adult researchers to garner a better understanding of how very young children are involved in sustained shared thinking, or how they work together to solve a problem or clarify a concept (Waller 2006).
