Methodological Issues in Work Disability Prevention Research

The methodologies used in work disability prevention (WDP) research have advanced considerably over the past several decades. In this chapter, we discuss the importance of methodology to the researcher. We then highlight the complexity of WDP which requires different disciplinary perspectives to fully understand and address the problem. Some challenges that arise when researchers from different disciplines try to work together are presented and approaches for integrating across disciplines are described with examples from the literature. In the last part of the chapter, we describe some particular challenges that arise when conducting WDP research. These include (1) the challenges of having workplaces as the research setting; (2) reluctant respondents; (3) multiple perspectives, multiple levels of influence and complex pathways; (4) ethical conduct in WDP research; and (5) interacting with stakeholders.