The ‘discrete variables’ methodology of epidemiology is contrasted with the contextuality and complexity of sociology in general and of qualitative fieldwork in particular. Sociology has always interrogated the categories which it deploys. The lessons of the contemporary interrogation of the category ‘ethnic group’ are applied in a critique of positivistic methodologies which have tended to treat ethnic groups as natural divisions of the population. The meanings of ethnicity in health research are explored and then illustrated by detailed accounts from fieldwork. The article closes with comments on the contribution which qualitative and sociologically informed methodologies may make to epidemiological studies.
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