Description
Book Synopsis - A simple and systematic guide to the planning and performance of investigations concerned with health and disease and with health care
- Offers researchers help in choosing a topic and to think about shaping objectives and ideas and to link these with the appropriate choice of method
- Fully updated with new sections on the use of the Web and computer programmes freely available in the planning, performance or analysis of studies
Table of ContentsPreface vii
1. First steps 1
2. Types of investigation 13
3. Stages of an investigation 35
4. Formulating the objectives 39
5. The objectives of evaluative studies 49
6. The study population 61
7. Control groups 69
8. Sampling 77
9. Selecting cases and controls for case-control studies 91
10. The variables 101
11. Defining the variables 109
12. Definitions of diseases 117
13. Scales of measurement 125
14. Composite scales 133
15. Methods of collecting data 143
16. Reliability 151
17. Validity 161
18. Interviews and self-administered questionnaires 179
19. Constructing a questionnaire 193
20. Surveying the opinions of a panel: consensus methods 203
21. The use of documentary sources 209
22. Planning the records 225
23. Planning the handling of data 233
24. Pretests and other preparations 241
25. Collecting the data 247
26. Statistical analysis 251
27. Interpreting the findings 259
28. Making sense of associations 269
29. Application of the study findings 297
30. Writing a report 305
31. Rapid epidemiological methods 313
32. Clinical trials 325
33. Programme trials 345
34. Community-oriented primary care 357
35. Using the Web for health research 373
Appendix A Community appraisal: a checklist 383
Appendix B Random numbers 387
Appendix C Free computer programs 389
Index 407
