This is an excellent book, which will be of value to all those health professionals seeking to demystify the sometimes intimidating area of research. Well organised, comprehensive, and clearly written, it is indeed a ‘handbook’; it has a clear, step by step approach with many practical examples. It is suitable for researchers across the range of health disciplines, and the authors are to be congratulated for what will become an important resource.

Professor Frank Oberklaid, Director, Centre for Community Child Health

University of Melbourne/Royal Children’s Hospital

This book will clearly be a great help to young, and to some extent, experienced research workers focusing on epidemiological and clinical questions framed either in terms of the broad community or patient groups. I recommend it warmly.

Professor Stephen Leeder, Dean, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney

High quality clinical research is a cornerstone of effective health care and much good research is undertaken by clinicians. Yet many of the resources available on research methods are highly theoretical and inaccessible.

Written in a user-friendly style by a team of experienced clinical researchers, Health Science Research guides readers through the fundamentals of clinical inquiry. It outlines the steps needed to plan a study, recruit and select subjects, gather and analyse data, and report on results. The authors also explain how to deal ethically with interviewees, and how to prepare a grant application.

Health Science Research is an indispensable guide for anyone who needs to undertake a clinical study, including physicians, nurses, allied health workers, scientists and research assistants.

Jennifer Peat is Hospital Statistician in the Clinical Epidemiology Unit at the New Children’s Hospital, Westmead, and Associate Professor in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Sydney. Katrina Williams and Professor Craig Mellis are from the same Hospital and Department, and Wei Xuan is from the Department of Medicine, University of Sydney.