Legal research in health area – a methodological proposal for the primary data collection

Abstract

The empirical research on the Judicial Power procedure in relation to the health politics in Brazil does not show a standard in the data collection procedures. Based on this observation a Standard Operating Procedure (Procedimento Operacional Padrão -POP) was elaborated for obtaining primary legal data related to health topics. The suggested POP underwent a pilot test realized in the Rio de Janeiro state in January and February of 2009, and its performance was evaluated through SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, threats). The evaluation of the results of the pilot test made it evident that there should be taken care in the calculation of the sample sizes due to the frequent difficulties in the effective access to the data sources in legal facilities. The standardization of operational procedures consolidates the methodological basis of interdisciplinary research as it is the area of relationship between the Law and Public Health and it guarantees the comparability of collected results in different demographic, social and territorial contexts. This possibility founds an eventual construction of databases, systems of indicators and historical series for subsidizing a better knowledge of scenarios and of the dynamics that are established between health management and the Judiciary in the different administrative divisions of the Union.