Research Methods for Nurses and Midwives

Merryl Harvey qualified as a nurse in 1982. After qualifying as a midwife in 1984, her area of practice was neonatal intensive care. Merryl’s clinical career culminated in her working as a clinical teacher and this in turn led her to take up a post at Birmingham City University. Initially this was to run the post-registration neonatal intensive care course. In more recent years Merryl was been seconded to work on a number of large-scale, funded research projects which have focused on aspects of parenting and preterm birth. She secured the Bliss Research Fellow post based at the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit (2004–2007). Her MSc explored aspects of the neonatal nurse practitioner role and her PhD explored fathers’ experiences of the birth and immediate care of their baby. Merryl has a strong journal publication history and has co-authored a text on fatherhood in relation to midwifery and neonatal practice (2012). Her co-authored text ‘Achieving Your Doctorate while Working in Higher Education’ is due to be published by Sage in 2021.  Merryl became Professor of Nursing and Family Health at Birmingham City University in 2017. Before her retirement in 2019, Merryl was co-lead of the Family Health Research Cluster and co-lead of the Elizabeth Bryan Multiple Births Centre.Lucy Land qualified as a nurse in 1980 and worked in haematology, caring for patients with leukaemia, sickle cell anaemia and other blood disorders. Eventually specialising in haemophilia, Lucy was one of the first clinical nurse specialists, supporting a regional outpatient and home treatment service. Following this successful career in practice, she became a clinical nurse teacher and later qualified as a registered nurse tutor. After moving into Birmingham City  University, Lucy continued to teach and to undertake funded research projects which focussed  on patient experience and  completing several studies on this subject. In addition to a substantial history of journal publications, Lucy was co-author of an earlier Sage publication – Resources for Nursing Research: An Annotated Bibliography. Now retired from her role as professor of nursing,  and Director of the Centre for Social Care, Health and Related Research (C-SHaRR) Lucy maintains a keen interest patient care and works in the voluntary sector to promote patient advocacy and inclusion.

Harvey and Land empathetically provide novice nurse researchers with a platform from which they build their understanding of what can be a challenging subject. At the same time, they also give those returning to research a well-structured and thought out refresher, easing them back into the intricacies of the research process.

• Part I: Laying the FoundationsChapter 1: Introduction to Research in Nursing and MidwiferyChapter 2: Evidence-based PracticeChapter 3: The Development of Nursing and Midwifery KnowledgeChapter 4: Quantitative Methodologies: An OverviewChapter 5: Qualitative Methodologies: An OverviewChapter 6: Mixed Methodologies: An OverviewPart II: Understanding Research Methods and Designs: The TheoryChapter 7: Randomised Controlled TrialsChapter 8: Qualitative MethodsChapter 9: Surveys, Action Research and Historical ResearchChapter 10: Systematic ReviewsChapter 11: Research DesignPart III: Using Research Methods and Design: The PracticeChapter 12: The Research ProcessChapter 13: Literature Review: Identifying and Sourcing the LiteratureChapter 14: Literature Review: Reviewing the Narrative DataChapter 15: SamplingChapter 16: Quantitative Methods of Data CollectionChapter 17: Qualitative Methods of Data CollectionChapter 18: Research Governance in Clinical Research: Addressing Ethical IssuesPart IV: Data Analysis and EvaluationChapter 19: Quantitative Data Analysis: Measures of Clinical EffectivenessChapter 20: Managing and Analysing Qualitative DataChapter 21: RigourChapter 22: Evaluating ResearchPart V: Research in Action: Dissemination and ApplicationChapter 23: Writing Up and Disseminating Your ResearchChapter 24: Using Research in Clinical PracticeChapter 25: Writing a Professional Research ProposalChapter 26: Where Do I Go from Here?