Methodological issues concerning research in the health field

Abstract

This work aims at presenting a reflection on the method of research in the health field. Some questions are presented which involve the use of the method of natural sciences and that of social sciences in an attempt at understanding some methodological problems concerning the former and the latter. Problems related to the methodological issues in the elaboration of investigation projects in this field and the need for continuous discussion are pointed out as to: the differentiation of the nature of the object of investigation; the context in which a determined problem is identified; the type of question which is asked when it is problematized; technical procedures, the theory and the interpretative scheme on which it is founded; the dichotomy concerning the subject/object of knowledge; the researcher's neutrality; the concept of casuality.