Understanding Nursing and Healthcare Research

Patricia Cronin is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin. She is a registered General Nurse and her clinical background is in surgical and gastrointestinal nursing. She has a special interest in theory, and research and systematic review methodologies and considerable expertise in qualitative research methodologies. She is also a contributor and member of the editorial board for an online clinical skills training tool. Her research interests lie in the areas of chronic illness and gastrointestinal health in people with intellectual disability. She has published widely, co-authoring four books and book chapters and journal articles related to clinical skills, gastrointestinal nursing, research and theory. Qualifications: PhD, MSc, MA, BSc Nursing & Education, DipN (Lond), RN.Michael Coughlan is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing, Trinity College Dublin, where he has worked since 2002. He is a Registered Nurse Tutor and has been involved in nurse education for nearly 30 years. He has a wide experience in guiding and supervising students undertaking literature reviews and research studies at both an undergraduate and postgraduate level. His interests include research, and haematology and oncology nursing. He has a number of publications in these areas, in addition to co-authoring a number of books on literature reviews and research. Qualifications: MEd, MA, BNS, RPN, RGN, RNT.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It is well written, engaging and accessible.

• What is research?The research process at a glanceWhat are research problems, questions, hypotheses, aims and objectives?Searching and reviewing the literatureGetting to grips with research designsUnderstanding sampling and sampling sizeEthical and legal issues in researchRigour in researchData collection in researchGaining insight into data analysisHow is research disseminated and implemented?Critically evaluating research studies