Design Epistemology for Public Health Research

Abstract

Design seems to have emerged from the niche in which it had remained for decades, not to say centuries, at least as far as research in the history of philosophy and science are concerned. Nowadays, the idea of design has reached our theories of epistemology: a field that, at first glance, seems to be quite far removed from the analysis of practical situations. The objective of this chapter is to explore just how far design epistemology (DE) can be adopted as a methodological framework for research in the field of public health, and precisely what it adds to classic epistemology or even to the standard methodology of applied science. On the one hand, we will analyse different approaches to DE and related terms and expressions such as ``design thinking'', ``design theory'' and ``designerly ways of knowing''; on the other, we will consider where to place public health within the field of academic knowledge and research and the disciplines involved in this field of research range from biomedical science to sociology and demography. Finally, we will see how DE can offer proposals and solutions to the challenges that a phenomenon as complex as public health currently faces. That is, we will measure up DE proposals against public health research needs.