File(s) not publicly available
A social science framework for the analysis of health technology regulation: the risks and benefits of innovative pharmaceuticals in a comparative context
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 06:48 authored by John AbrahamThis article proposes a social scientific methodology for the investigation of the regulation of the risks (and benefits) of pharmaceuticals in an international comparative context. To do this, it examines the philosophical presuppositions that are necessary for the production of social scientific knowledge; the relationships between epistemology, concept formation and empirical research design; and the generation of hypotheses and selection of research methods, by reference to the ontological status of the research object. It is concluded that objectivist realism provides a philosophically coherent framework for empirical social scientific research on the regulation of technological risks, which can be useful to citizenship and public health without being instrumentally technocratic, whereas relativism is philosophically self-defeating and can only be useful in spite of itself.
History
Publication status
- Published
Journal
Health, Risk and SocietyISSN
13698575Publisher
Taylor & FrancisExternal DOI
Issue
3Volume
4Page range
305-24Pages
20.0Department affiliated with
- Sociology and Criminology Publications
Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2012-02-06Usage metrics
Categories
No categories selectedKeywords
Licence
Exports
RefWorks
BibTeX
Ref. manager
Endnote
DataCite
NLM
DC