Jeanne Daly holds a PhD in sociology, and also holds degrees in environ, mental science and chemistry. She teaches medical Sociology and research method in the School of Sociology and Anthropology at La Trobe University. She is co-editor of Researching Health Care: designs, dilemmas and disciplines(Routledge, 1992), Technologies in Health Care: Policies and politics (Australian Government Publishing Service, 1987) and The Social Sciences and Health Research (Public Health Association, 1990).

• Introduction -- Ethics, Ethics Committees and the Researcher -- What’s the Use of Bioethics? -- Research Ethics Committees: Is the Tail Wagging the Dog? -- Ethics and Epidemiology: Problems for the Researcher -- Medicine and the Ethical Conditions of Modernity -- Basic Research and Experimental Designs -- Basic Research and the Ethics of Resource Allocation -- Traditional Scientific Designs and Ethics -- Clinical Care and Clinical Research: A False Dichotomy -- Basic Research and Experiment: A Summing up -- Social Science Disciplines -- Social Science Health Research -- Unobtrusive Methods in Delicate Situations -- My Soul Has Gone: Appropriate Methods for a Delicate Situation -- Behavioural Research in Health: Individual Subject vs Person in Context -- Health Economics and Policy: Ethical Dilemmas in the Science of Scarcity -- Representing Community Views -- Representing the Community: Issues from Applied Research Experiences -- Ethics and Health Research in Aboriginal Communities -- Women’s Health: Methods and Ethics -- Funding Health-Promoting Research: A Consumer Perspective -- The Clinicians’ View of Research -- Clinicians Studying Their Own Practice: An Introduction -- Mathematical Models and Clinical Practice -- Studying Narratives of Ageing and Social Problems in Medical Encounters -- Primary Care: Issues for General Practice Research -- Conclusion