Research Techniques for the Health Sciences focuses on pragmatic aspects of health science research. Underlying concepts and theory are explained and illustrated through a common-sense approach utilizing case studies.

All of the text’s case studies are health-oriented in school, community, and hospital settings involving students, teachers, physicians, nurses, and health science researchers. This edition features an emphasis on the currency in the research methods processes, and includes new Lecture Outlines in PowerPoint^® slides.

Features

• Unique case studies throughout the chapters provide immediate applications for students to follow and solve throughout the text, keeping them actively engaged and stressing context.
• Ethical research is strongly emphasized and promoted with discussions of informed consent, right to privacy, responsibility for harmful consequences, and the role of Institutional Review Boards in getting projects approved.
• In addition to data collection and analysis, techniques of data presentation are addressed in Chapter 13, offering students a variety of ways to present their research clearly, effectively, and with impact.
• Attention paid to writing the research report in Chapter 13 not only highlights the basics of style and references but also emphasizes the report as a method of communication in order to assist more scientifically-minded students.
• Appendix A supplies useful information about common statistical procedures and their usage.
• An approach derived from Evidence Based Medicine for the process of literature review keeps pace with the latest direction of the CDC and its newly-launched PERRY, emphasizing evidence-based evaluations over information-based evaluations, and encouraging more solid decision-making processes. No other text in the discipline offers this information.
• An emphasis on online research manifests in links provided for evidence based computer searches, statistical links to help students work out sample sizes and test hypotheses online, and a web research appendix.
• Most chapters begin with a Case Study and end with a Case Discussion, as well as a Summary, Critical Thinking Questions, and Suggested Activities.
  
  

New To This Edition

• Lecture PowerPoint^® slides with chapter outlines and art from the textbook are provided online and are easily downloaded.
• Key Words are now provided at the beginning of each chapter and emphasized throughout to help students identify important terms.
• End-of-Chapter material has been updated for an emphasis on critical thinking.
  • Critical Thinking Questions at the end of each chapter encourage students to think beyond the case studies and consider how the information provided in the chapters relates to their own research activities.
  • Suggested Activities offer ideas of projects to work on and ask students to do further research.
• Increased discussion of technology keeps coverage in the book current.
• Additional Case Studies keep the book up-to-date.

Table of Contents

1. What is Research?
2. Developing the Research Proposal
3. Critical Review of the Literature and Information Resources
4. Research in an Ethical Context
5. Conducting Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Research
6. Data Collection through Surveys and Self-Reports
7. Sampling Designs and Techniques
8. Qualitative Research
9. Evaluation Research
10. Analytic Epidemiologic Studies
11. Analyzing and Interpreting Data: Descriptive Analysis
12. Analyzing and Interpreting Data: Inferential Analysis
13. Techniques for Data Presentation
14. Writing a Research Report
Appendix A. Common Statistical Procedures
Appendix B. World Wide Web Research Information