Wanted—new methodologies for health service research. Is complexity theory the answer?

Author: Kernick, David

Source: Family Practice, Volume 23, Number 3, June 2006 , pp. 385-390(6)

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Abstract:

Despite a recognition that health service research has failed to make its full contribution to health service improvement, the fact that evidence is not widely accommodated into practice is seen as a failure of communication rather than the inappropriate application of a particular form of investigation. Dominant theoretical frameworks still retain the fundamental idea that order needs to be somehow created by external forces and that organizational issues will inevitably yield to more collection of data and the application of increasingly sophisticated analytical techniques. This paper explores alternative perspectives and methodological opportunities that arise from viewing health service as a complex non-linear system. This approach may offer new research insights that more accurately reflect underlying mechanisms and may help to explain the limitations of current analytical techniques.

Keywords: Complexity; health service research; methodology

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/fampra/cml011

Publication date: 2006-06-01

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Family Practice is an international journal aimed at practitioners, teachers and researchers in the fields of family medicine, general practice and primary care in both developed and developing countries.