well...
first.. that would be method, (since it belongs to a certain class ) 
second... the openerp/odoo framework in fact has such method... 
just call create(self, ... values)  ... pass the required/optional values as a dictionary,
and it will return the id of new created record...
hope it helps : )

edit after comment:

partner_obj = self.pool.get('res.partner')

in v7 api: 
created_partner_id = partner_obj.create(cr, uid, {'name':'Example partner'}).

n v8 api:created_partner_id = partner_obj.create({'name':'Example Partner'}).

you should also look in developers documentation:
for v8: https://www.odoo.com/documentation/8.0/reference/orm.html

r for v7 look for : OpenERP technical memento ... .hope it helps now : )