This article analyzes the vistas opened up by a socio-historical approach to qualitative research in the realm of the social sciences, based in the ideas of Vygotsky, Luria and Bakhtin. It points to another way of doing science, involving the art of description complemented by explication, which can be found in qualitative research developed on the basis of a socio-historical orientation. This approach emphasizes understanding phenomena based on the historical context of events in which the particular is seen as just an instance of the social totality. Research is seen as the relationship among subjects and is therefore one of dialogue, where the researcher is an integral part of the investigative process. These ideas have implications for the procedural and ethical aspects of social science research which are reflected in the relationship between researcher and researched, both in the very instruments use and in the analysis of data. It presents a descriptive report of the methodological process developed in a qualitative study of a socio-historical nature.
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH; HUMAN SCIENCES