Naturalistic inquiry: an appropriate model for family medicine

Family medicine's stated philosophy is consistent with the philosophical basis of naturalistic inquiry, a research paradigm from the social sciences. However, the majority of published family medicine research more nearly resembles traditional biomedical research, here termed rationalistic inquiry. Adding naturalistic inquiry to family medicine's research armamentarium would be consistent with the specialty's stated philosophy and would foster investigation in areas not well addressed by the traditional biomedical approach.