Target Audience

This book is aimed at those studying and working in the field of health care, including nurses and the professions allied to medicine, who have little prior knowledge of statistics but for whom critical review of research is an essential skill.

Purpose and Support

The book will provide support for those conducting literature-based projects which require the student to review evidence generated through empirical investigations. Evidence-based projects or assignments have, for several years, formed the basis of a final year independent study for most honours degrees, and increasing numbers of masters programmes, in health care.

Approach and Features

Working from practical examples, exercises and illustrations, explanations will be given in (relatively) straightforward conceptual terms. This book is intended as a practical guide and reference book. Bullet points and illustrations will be used wherever possible, and dense text avoided. A detailed glossary of statistical concepts and terms will be provided as an additional resource for learning.

Learning Outcomes

The emphasis throughout will be to enable the student to transfer their learning to the research reports they are reading. Using fundamental criteria and aided by a list of key questions, students will be able to make an informed judgement about the quality of the research findings. The examples used will be based closely on actual research data, but essential details will be changed. This approach is intended to avoid problems of copyright and overcome the ethical problem of challenging published research in a forum where there is no right of the authors to reply. As follow-up exercises, students will be directed to references where they can test out their learning on ‘real’ examples, guided by key questions.