Methodology Issues in Reproductive Health Research

Abstract

Female plays key role in child bearing and in
developing countries, child rearing. Science of women’s
health or Obstetrics and Gynecology has long been
considered as the main part of reproductive health.
Human reproduction is concerned by various disciplines;
therefore, research in reproductive health is multidisciplinary and employs a variety of methodology.
The fertility is the most fundamental issue along
the social evolution of the human species. Like all living
things, human try their best to carry on the genetic
information by passing it from one generation to the
next. Cross-fertilization via sexual intercourse increases
diversity of the gene pool and allow emergence of new
breeds. More complex passage involves culture,
ethnicity and language, etc. This social information has
a much higher speed of changes compared to genetic
information. However, in the past few decades, the
fertility rate has been declined globally(1). The
momentum of human population as decline of fertility
in low-income countries has been associated with
industrialization, woman’s education and perhaps the
change of gender’s role. The story has become more
complicated by the rising presence of homosexuality
and transgender. Human reproduction is therefore not
just for maintenance of human population, but the
transformation of gender values.