Researching dementia: are there unique methodological challenges for health services research?

Health services research has been dominated by the biomedical paradigm and positivism, and the funding cultures of biomedicine have dictated the choic e of method used by researchers. Social science paradigms, however, have be en recognised as increasingly important within health services research and both quantitative and qualitative methods are accepted as appropriate. Old er people with dementia have usually been excluded from or marginalised in studies about dementia because of traditional assumptions about the ability or appropriateness of people with dementia to act as participants or respo ndents. The choice of research method should be driven by theory and not by ideological or political prescription. Theory-driven pluralistic approache s to method will facilitate participation of people with dementia in resear ch through the valuing of personhood. There are no unique methodological ch allenges in researching dementia. Rather, the complex nature of dementia an d dementia care highlight the methodological challenges of investigating co mplex social phenomena.