The Necessity of qualitative research for advancing oral health

Researchers are engaged with producing knowledge. Through this knowledge production, they make claims about the world. For applied health researchers, our knowledge production is both a scientific as well as a moral activity. Increasingly, oral health researchers are turning to qualitative research,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Community dentistry and oral epidemiology 2023-02, Vol.51 (1), p.67-70
Main Author: Macdonald, Mary Ellen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Dental health
dental public health
Dentistry
Humans
Medical research
Oral Health
oral health research
Oral hygiene
Public health
Qualitative Research
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Summary:Researchers are engaged with producing knowledge. Through this knowledge production, they make claims about the world. For applied health researchers, our knowledge production is both a scientific as well as a moral activity. Increasingly, oral health researchers are turning to qualitative research, a research approach that takes science and morality seriously. Qualitative research pushes researchers to think about the different worlds in which people live and work, and endeavours to generate data that reflect those worlds. This paper argues that humans are complex, and that qualitative approaches are necessary for understanding how we are all deeply embedded in historical, social, cultural and political contexts, and why this matters when thinking about oral health. This paper also dispels myths about the limitations of qualitative research and proposes future directions to improve the sophistication of qualitative oral health sciences.
ISSN:0301-5661
1600-0528
DOI:10.1111/cdoe.12787