ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to discuss the research process through which data on the nature of medical autonomy for government-employed physicians as well as on the origins and development of Zimbabwe’s health service system were obtained. It discusses the types of data sought; the choice of data collection methods; and the process of gaining access; the research context. The chapter describes the sampling of respondents; the data collection process, comprising unstructured interviews, observation and document analysis; and data analysis. The research aimed to obtain data to portray the nature of clinical and economic autonomy exercised by doctors employed on a full-time basis at the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals. The choice of the research setting, a hospital, was largely determined by the nature of research problem, which was to examine the nature of autonomy for different grades of government-employed doctors working in a clinical capacity.
