Problems of Public Health Research

Abstract

Given the challenges and dynamics in health research it was concluded in chapter 3 that scientifically grounded activities were needed in the area of public health. One of the biggest problems in all the countries investigated is, however, that one will hardly find any secure scientific foundations. The approaches in research - frequently they cannot yet be called disciplines -rarely have definite boundaries, neither in terms of topic selection nor of methods and procedures. Various disciplines which arose in other contexts find themselves in a struggle for supremacy in public health research. Many areas still lack research scientists. Often, there are not yet any organs of publication that could serve as a general forum for scientific discussion. The research infrastructure is underdeveloped and opportunities for special training are largely lacking. All of these aspects point to the fact that coherent scientifically based action is just beginning to take form. Public-health research still finds itself in a highly exploratory stage of scientific development,⁷⁹ The lack of a powerful unifying approach among public health scientists is combined, moreover, with a weak position in universities when it comes to the distribution of resources and a low status among public health research funding agencies and policymakers.