The present article proposes a descriptive review of those moments in which the social sciences semiotic turn borders with some epistemic categories that results fundamental for the construction of a conscious approach to the social. Thus, the reality as a discursive construct, the semiotic character of observation, the transcoding process between doxa and episteme, or the structural wealth of discipline will be presented as fundamental axes to this relationship. Based on this approach, there are proposed as semiotic-epistemic integration judgements, two fundamental keys in the construction of a qualitative research process: the adoption of interdisciplinary structures, and the complexity perspective that allows to problematize the previous categories, integrating them as fundamental elements in the social meaning organization.