This text proposes an alternative approach to the methodological discussions on the studies of social representation in the field of nursing, which are usually anchored in an opposition between quantitative and qualitative methods. It is argued that such an opposition is just an apparent one, since it is possible to observe similar results in studies conducted with different methods. With a basis on the thought of several authors in the field of social representations, the question is treated from the standpoint of the distinction between a processual and a structural approach to the phenomenon of social representation. It is proposed a taxonomy that, in departing from those perspectives, takes into consideration the data collection and data analysis implied techniques, as well as the plan of the representation to which the researcher wants to get access.