Reading Research: A User-Friendly Guide for Health Professionals

This practical beginner-level introduction to health sciences research is ideal for both students and health professionals. It assumes the reader has little or no experience with analyzing published research, and provides guidelines for reading and understanding research articles, as well as information about important elements of published research (e.g., research methods, common terminology, data analysis and results). The book also briefly discusses how research results can be used and applied to practice.

• Concise overview of health sciences-related research - a fast read for students looking to maximize study time
• Easy-to-read conversational style - simplified style encourages students
• Helpful, succinct tips - useful, practical advice for those who are new to the subject
• An accompanying website provides up-to-date links for relevant research projects and other research-related sites, and offers Reader's Companion Worksheets

• Expanded Chapters 2 and 3 now include more on mixed method research
• New information about systematic reviews including an example of how to read a forest plot
• Descriptive and interpretive phenomenology is explained.
• NEW: Includes brief discussion about using social media to find research
• NEW: Interactive forms on accompanying website

Barbara Davies, RN, PhD, FCAHS is a professor emeritus at the University of Ottawa, School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, and has taught research methods in undergraduate and graduate programs. She was the co-director of the Nursing Best Practice Research Centre for 9 years and Vice-Dean Research for the Faculty of Health Sciences. She received a Premier’s Research Excellence Award from the Ministry of Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation, of Ontario, Canada. She is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. Her research program aims to increase the translation and uptake of evidence into practice for frontline health care workers, decision makers, and consumers. She is actively involved in the development, implementation, evaluation, and sustainability of best practice guidelines in nursing and health care.

Jo Logan, RN, PhD, is an adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa, School of Nursing, where she taught in the undergraduate and graduate programs. She is an affiliate member of the Ottawa Health Research Institute. Her research interests include evidence-based practice and supportive care. She is co-developer of the Ottawa Model of Research Use, which has been used in many research and clinical projects and has been described in numerous articles and book chapters. She has presented many workshops on professional practice and research use and was a director of Nursing Research, Education, and Quality Improvement at the Ottawa Civic Hospital.