Evaluating Research in Health and Social Care / Edition 1

by Roger Gomm, Gill Needham, Anne Bullman

Overview

Practitioners across the caring professions increasingly need to know where evidence can be found and to evaluate different forms of evidence with a critical eye. This invaluable collection includes exemplars of a wide range of research techniques and provides a critical commentary for each. The commentary is designed to tackle jargon and demystify the text, highlighting the compromises that need to be made in real world research designs and the complexity of controlling relevant variables. The book seeks to underline the challenges of interpreting and generalising results both for the researchers and for those who fund their work.

This is a set book for the Open University course K302 Critical Practice in Health and So

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761964919
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	11/13/2000
Series:	Published in association with The Open University
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.73(d)

About the Author

Roger Gomm, now retired, was lecturer in health and welfare at The Open University, UK. He has long experience of ethnographic research in both the United Kingdom and internationally, and of bespoke evaluation research. He has written several books, including Social Research Methodology (second edition, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008) and Key Concepts in Social Research Methods (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).

Table of Contents

Introduction
PART ONE: EXPERIMENTAL APPROACHES
Experimental Methods and Simple Interventions
Bandages for Leg Ulcers
Experimental Methods and Complex Interventions
Case Management in Mental Health Care
From Effectiveness to Cost-Effectiveness
A Trial of a Hospital at Home Scheme
Comparing Like with Like
A Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses of Homes Visiting Schemes and Childhood Injury
The Basics of Experimental Design
Research Instruments in Experimental Research
Reading the Results of Experimental Research
PART TWO: SURVEY RESEARCH
Surveys, Samples and Questions
Consumer Satisfaction with the NHS
An Equity Audit in Coronary Care
Surveys and Case Control Studies
Controlling for Age and Socio-Economic Circumstances
PART THREE: QUALITATIVE APPROACHES
Loosely Structured Interviews
The Stories Behind the Statistics
Naturalistic Observation
Midwives' Ethnic Sterotyping of their Patients
Understanding Language in Context
Professional Uncertainty
Action Research
Applied Qualitative Methods in the Family Centre
Collecting and Analysing Qualitative Data
PART FOUR: RESEARCH APPRAISAL QUESTIONS

Editorial Reviews

'[T]he aim of the book is to give health practitioners "the background to read and understand research ". I believe that this book is indeed capable of fulfilling this function, and is a useful addition to any research methods reading list. [T]he resource chapters are extremely well written and well presented with good use of sub-headings, tables, figures, and boxes to explain items in more detail.

Overall, I think this is an excellent book and a very good introduction to research. It is certainly suitable for health professionals wanting to understand enough about research to be able to read and understand published papers, but is also an excellent book to accompany any research methods course. The use of published research and the cleanly written and accessible style of the book make it an unusual and very welcome addition to the research methods field' - Medical Sociology News

'This is an ambitious contribution to the ever-growing market for research textbooks. The book concludes with an excellent appendix on sources of literature. …useful for postgraduate students and staff wishing to fill gaps and/or double-check their facts' - Physiotherapy

‘In lieu of serving up the usual fare of methods and applications to be chosen from at whim, it concentrates on clinicians with limited time who wish to evaluate research rather than necessarily do it themselves.... If you already have a book on research methods...this book will still fine-tune your antennae to the good, the bad and the cant' - The British Journal of Healthcare Computing and Information Management

'Recommended reading' - Oxford Brookes University, Oxford

From the Publisher