The emergence of health systems based on a broadened concept of health that questions the understanding of actions in the field of health capable of bringing together structure and subject has led to the development of evaluative studies as a mode of investigation and in particular methodological proposals guided by a qualitative focus in the study of human health. Qualitative research involves qualitative epistemology, a tradition composed of numerous currents derived from various paradigms and fields, which lack in-depth study, in terms of revealing the ontological, epistemological and, by extension, methodological basis of each, including an operational plan. Such undertakings are still very rare in the specialized literature on the subject, as is clear from the predominance of empirical studies in publications and the notable scarcity of epistemological, theoretical and methodological discussions regarding operationalized evaluative models. In view of this, the present article aims to highlight a number of conceptual elements inherent in analysis, understood as a central epistemological stage in a (critical) interpretative focus. The text then focuses on one specific school of thought – Critical Discourse Analysis – with a view to recovering some fundamental features and registering operational aspects that have been employed in qualitative studies in the field of health.
Metodologia de pesquisa; Pesquisa qualitativa em saúde; Saúde coletiva