Full Description
"I was most impressed with the completeness and ease of reading of this comprehensive resource for curious students and their teachers. From formulating the research question to publication of the outcome, this reader-friendly guide outlines the key elements needed for a successful first attempt at scientific investigation. Unlike most educational manuals, this book will never become obsolete. It belongs on the bookshelves of every residency and fellowship training director, academic scientist and clinician."
— R. BRUCE LYDIARD PHD, MD,
Professor of Psychiatry, Medical University of South Carolina
"So many students and professionals alike are terrified to try research and have no resource to help them. This book will 'demystify' the research process, thus serving this very important purpose. It is informative, easy to read, and very user friendly. A true 'paperback' research mentor.... My complements to the authors. They have taken their extensive research and clinical experience and put it in an easy-to-read guide to a very difficult topic."
— BRAD RIEMANN, Centre for Study
& Treatment of Anxiety Disorders, Oconomowoc, WI
"These authors.... all have experience with research and have trained students at all levels. They also work in 'real-world' research settings and are familiar with many of the practical problems (and solutions) with doing research in these settings....Overall, this is a strong volume that will make a nice contribution. It is more accessible than many of the volumes on research methodology and the clinical focus will reach an important audience. The authors repeatedly 'teach by example." This is a good strategy and they generally use it effectively."
— DEBRA HOPE, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
The philosophy behind this research methods text is to provide practical, how-to guidance in an accessible format. The authors hope to reach clinical students and postdoctoral trainees at the early stages of training to muster excitement by showing that research need not be either dull or threatening. Their goal is to "demystify the research process," with a style that is informative yet easy-to-read, humorous, and user friendly. One of our reviewers puts it best when he describes the book as "a true 'paperback' research mentor." The authors hope to hook students on research early in their studies so that they see it as a natural extension of their work rather than as drudgery to be endured just to get a degree. The ultimate hope is that this will lead to more direct-care practitioners getting involved in research after they leave school. This book is also different from any other on the subject in being problem oriented. It will emphasize research methods that are appropriate to most clinical settings and will deal with many issues of clinical research that are often ignored by other research methods books.
Contents
I. GETTING STARTED
1. An Introduction to Clinical Research
2. Why Do Research?
3. Generating Worthwhile Research Ideas & Setting an Action Plan
4. How to Read & Critically Evaluate Research Articles
5. Writing a Research Proposal
6. A Primer on Research Ethics
II. DATA & METHODS
7. Understanding Data
8. Guidelines for Collecting Sound Data
9. Understanding Variables
10. Handling Data & Using Statistics
III. COMMUNICATING YOUR FINDINGS
11. Presenting Your Findings
12. On Writing & Publishing
