Research into Practice

Praise for the first edition of Research Into Practice and Research Methods for Nurses and the Caring Professions: "These books provide a good introduction for the uninitiated to reading and doing research. Abbott and Sapsford provide a clearly written and accessible introduction to social research...One of their aims is to 'de-mystify' research, and in this they succeed admirably...After reading the text and the articles in the reader, and working through the various research exercises, readers should have a clear appreciation of how to evaluate other people's research and how to begin their own." - David Field, Journal of Palliative Medicine This is a thoroughly revised and up-dated edition of the bestselling reader for nurses and the caring professions. It offers carefully selected examples of research, all concerned in some way with nursing or the study of health and community care. It illustrates the kind of research that can be done by a small team or a single researcher, without large-scale research grants. The editors have chosen papers which show a great diversity of approaches: differing in emphasis on description or explanation, different degrees of structure in design and different appeals to the authority of science or the authenticity of emphatic exploration. They show the limitations typical of small-scale projects carried out with limited resources and the experience of applied research as it occurs in practice, as opposed to how it tends to look when discussed in textbooks. The chapters have been organized into three sections representing three distinct types of social science research: observing and participating, talking to people and asking questions, and controlled trials and comparisons. Each section is provided with an editorial introduction. Features: Thoroughly revised and up-dated edition of bestselling text New articles in line with latest trends in nursing and other practitioner research, with more stress on evidence-based practice, action research and self-evaluation New user-friendly format Very well-known authors in the field