Why Linear Thinking in Health Research Perpetuates Inequity — and What to Do About It
This article critiques the dominance of linear thinking in health research and public health policy. It argues that linear models — which assume simple cause-and-effect, straightforward access, and sequential care pathways — systematically reproduce inequity by failing to account for complexity, context, relationships, power dynamics, and lived experience. The piece calls for methodological approaches that embrace non-linear, systems-oriented thinking to make health research more equitable and effective.
Key quotes
Health research has a public health problem that goes beyond methodology.
Linear thinking is not neutral.
When policy assumes that access is simple, when services assume that care begins at referral, when implementation assumes...
Linear systems can turn complexity into exclusion.
Public health research needs methods that can see context, relationships, power and lived experience.
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