[Methodological perspectives of public health research. A brief look].

Research allows for the strengthening of disciplines, particularly those that draw on information from various specialties, such as public health. The objective of this report is to provide consolidated methodological perspectives to enrich public health as a science. The review highlights three key elements: the type of investigative approach, the evidence and competence approaches in the methodological context of the inquiry into collective health. It is concluded that the systematic, specific knowledge, integrated to the context and obtained in attention to the circumstances of the investigation, the object of study and the institutional location, contribute with the strengthening of public health as a multidisciplinary science, directly involved, for its competence and based on the evidence, in the decision making in matters of health by the State in areas as important as needs, services and health systems.