Research and Evidence-Based Practice

Vanessa Heaslip is a Professor of Nursing and Healthcare Equity at the University of Salford, and a visiting Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work at Stavanger University, Norway. She has extensive experience in nursing and nurse education and is an experienced qualitative researcher. Her research interests focus on socially excluded groups whose voices are not traditionally heard in the academic or professional discourse, as well as experiences of marginalised communities who experience inequality of opportunity in accessing statutory services. Professor Heaslip has contributed to many books and has written journal articles, editorials and discussion papers. She is also on the editorial board of the Journal of Clinical Nursing and writes regular reviews for a variety of nursing and academic journals, based on her expertise in qualitative research, socially excluded groups, marginalised communities, equality and diversity.Bruce Lindsay worked in health care for over thirty years after qualifying in children’s nursing and adult nursing in Sheffield. He was awarded a PhD for his research into the development of the care of children in acute hospitals. He was a Senior Lecturer and Deputy Director of the Nursing and Midwifery Research Unit at the School of Health Sciences, University of East Anglia, until 2012, and was a systematic reviewer for Cochrane for fifteen years. He is now a freelance music journalist and biographer.

Perfect for nursing students.‘I’m a second-year nursing student starting to prepare for 3rd year, this book is brilliant in so many ways:1) The lay out is clear and simple. From the first page explaining what the book aims to cover and how each chapter can be read in any order.2) The depth of information was ideal, enough to understand but not too much that you overthink what you are reading leading too misinterpretation.This book is useful in helping me understand what I need to be looking at and for going into my 3rd year and preparing for my research project and write my dissertation. From reading the other reviews and reading the book, I'm glad that I have this to help me through my final year of adult nursing.’Amazon reviewer

• About the authors; IntroductionPart One: Understanding research1. Identifying the research aim1.1 Introduction1.2 Why does society want health and social care research?1.3 Why do researchers do research?1.4 What will be studied?1.5 Who makes the decisions?1.6 What do we want to find out?1.7 Achieving success2. Reviewing the literature2.1 Introduction2.2 Why does a researcher need to know what's already available?2.3 Understanding the context2.4 Understanding the existing evidence2.5 Can I justify my project?2.6 Carrying out the literature review2.7 Developing a search strategy2.8 Searching databases2.9 What else should be searched?2.10 Evaluating quality2.11 Conclusion3. Designing a study3.1 Introduction3.2 The three levels3.3 Making sense of the levels3.4 Paradigms3.5 Methodologies3.6 Method3.7 Tools3.8 The research hierarchies3.9 External influences3.10 Making the final choice4. Can it be done? Funding and ethics4.1 Introduction4.2 Who funds research?4.3 How much does research cost?4.4 Ethical issues in health and social care research4.5 Gaining ethical approval4.6 Public engagement in research4.7 Reading research - identifying ethical issues5. Recruitment and data collection5.1 Introduction5.2 Recruitment issues5.3 Participants or subjects?5.4 Developing inclusion and exclusion criteria5.5 Selection and sampling5.6 Sampling5.7 How big should the sample be?5.8 Attrition5.9 Obtaining consent5.10 Giving rewards5.11 Data collection5.12 Data collection tools5.13 Issues in data collection5.14 Confidentiality and anonymity5.15 Conclusion6. Data analysis6.1 Introduction6.2 Quantitative and qualitative analysis: the same but different?6.3 Quantitative analysis6.4 Measurement scales6.5 Types of statistical analysis6.6 Major methods of quantitative analysis6.7 Conclusion7. What do we know now? Communicating research findings7.1 Introduction7.2 What can research tell us?7.3 Limits to research accuracy7.4 Building a body of research7.5 Disseminating research7.6 ConclusionPart Two: Evidence-based practice8. Reviewing the evidence8.1 Introduction8.2 Reliable, valid, relevant and applicable?8.3 Relevance and applicability8.4 Research synthesis8.5 Evidence from other sources8.6 Role of the service user8.7 Conclusion9. Putting the evidence into practice9.1 Introduction9.2 The relationship between evidence and practice9.3 Top-down or bottom-up?9.4 Changing personal practice9.5 Practitioner inquiry9.6 Action research9.7 Conclusion10. Audit and evaluation10.1 Introduction10.2 Audit and evaluation: what are they?10.3 Differentiating between audit, evaluation and research10.4 When to audit or evaluate10.5 What standards matter?10.6 Involving services users in audit and evaluation10.7 Conclusion11. 'Closing the circle': issues for the future11.1 Introduction11.2 The speed of change11.3 New and forthcoming developments11.4 Predicting, creating and dealing with change: the place of research11.5 The international nature of health and social care11.6 Who will be the health and social care researchers of the future?11.7 ConclusionGlossary; References; Index