Fernando Peñaranda Correa

The Evaluation of Qualitative Research A Reflection From a Justice Perspective

Due to the diversity of research options, as well as the lack of consensus regarding criteria for research quality, an evaluative process is needed that can take into account the different characteristics of diverse research options and their specific contributions. Therefore, it is essential to carry out the evaluation of qualitative research in a pluralistic setting. The author’s observation is that research needs to be understood as a political concern within the domain of justice. This means that it is necessary to move forward with the construction of a more democratic setting so that differences between scientists and scientific communities can be dealt with, and the right of researchers to promote and develop different paradigms and research options can therefore be guaranteed, as well as facilitating dialogue and mutual learning between researchers and different paradigms. Its construction will imply discussions, tensions, and agreements that go beyond the epistemological and theoretical sphere into a political and moral one.

La comprensión de los significados de la maternidad: el caso de un programa de cuidado prenatal en un centro de salud en Popayán, Colombia

El objetivo de este estudio es comprender los significados que sobre la maternidad tienen los actores sociales (mujeres embarazadas y personal de salud) dentro del programa prenatal de un centro de salud en la ciudad de Popayan, Colombia, programa implementado como estrategia para prevenir y manejar en forma oportuna las complicaciones obstetricas y perinatales. Para ello, se realizo una investigacion cualitativa basada en entrevistas y observacion de las actividades educativas colectivas. Entre los hallazgos, se encontraron discrepancias entre los actores sociales respecto de los significados de la maternidad, debido al conocimiento biomedico y a las relaciones de poder, aunque tambien vinculadas a los referentes culturales particulares. Estas discrepancias no reconocidas afectan la pertinencia del programa para responder a las necesidades y caracteristicas socioculturales de las mujeres embarazadas.

Ethics, collective health, qualitative health research and social justice

The scientific field is characterized by the disputes about the delimitation of the field problems, methods and theories that can be considered scientific. The recognition that it is not neutral, that a researcher is a moral subject, and its practices are moral ones, entail that moral reflections, that is, ethics, should be a core process of every researcher. Therefore ethics is not a heteronomous issue, and cannot be reduced to guidelines. In the first part of this article we examine the need to develop an open approach to the construction of guidelines in a plural scientific field that must take into account diverse paradigms, which implies different values. The Brazilian process of writing guidelines on research ethics for social science and humanities in the context of the Ministry of Health will be discussed as an example. In the second part we expand the analysis of research ethics posing a perspective that integrates qualitative research, social justice and discipline trends. In the final considerations we explore the possibility that research ethics is better discussed taking into account the ontology, epistemology and political values rather than one specific methodological approach or from a dichotomic perspective between biomedicine versus social science and humanities.