Phenomenological Positivism and other Problematic Trends in Health Science Research

The growing enthusiasm for qualitative research in the health sciences may have created a climate in which methodologically perplexing research reports are becoming commonplace. In this article, the author challenges readers to consider the philosophical positions from which qualitative methods are derived and, in so doing, to reconsider the necessity for methodological integrity toward the overall purposes of knowledge development. A contemporary malady within our research tradition is described and implications for understanding and rectifying it are set out somewhat facetiously in the form of diagnostic" and "treatment" recommendations.