Quantitative and qualitative approaches in health research/Abordagens quantitativa e qualitativa nas pesquisas em saúde/Enfoques cuantitativo y cualitativo en la investigación sanitaria

Resumo

Objective: To think about the quantitative and qualitative approaches in health research. Because it is an issue that concerns and beyond the field of health research. Method: This is reflective critical analysis. Results: From the reflection on the inconsistent opposition that is made of research methods, highlights the importance of each method for the instrumentation of the various objects of study, pointing to their use in a complementary way, which provides the visualization of objects of study under the various prisms. Conclusion: The theoretical and methodological approaches are sometimes presented in different and opposite way, resulting in the idea of incompatibility between the methods. However, from a methodological point of view, qualitative and quantitative investigations have not contradictory or continuous, but of different nature so that the researcher should not choose between one method or another, but implement the approaches that suit to your research question.

Descriptors: Qualitative research. Quantitative analysis. Investigative techniques.