DQ-W3-EVIDENCE BASED PRACTICE

88 NURSERESEARCHER 2010, 17, 2

reviews

Nursing Research – Generating and Assessing Evidence for Nursing Practice Authors: Denise F Polit, Cheryl Tatano Beck Publisher: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins Pages: 816 Price: £35 ISBN: 0781794684

Nursing Research – Generating and Assessing

Evidence for Nursing Practice starts from

a basic level and gradually builds to

provide guidance in the complexities

and nuances of research in the nursing

field. The book also reflects the growing

maturity of nurse-led research and

reinforces the intrinsic worth of the

expertise and knowledge that we have

as a profession.

This is the book’s eighth edition and

has new chapters relating to systematic

reviews, self-reporting scales and

enhancing and assessing integrity in

qualitative enquiry.

It is readable – and I say this

acknowledging the fact that I teach

this subject – and presents concepts

in a simple yet professional way.

In addition, points are contextualised

using different tools. Examples are given

to illustrate concepts, tips are included to

aid novice researchers in their decision

making, main points are summarised

at the end of each chapter and study

activities are detailed to enhance the

reader’s learning. All of these tools help

to broaden the book’s appeal.

One tool that seems particularly useful,

especially to a lecturer such as me who

teaches research and evidence-based

practice to undergraduate nursing

students, are the examples of how to

critique quantitative and qualitative

research reports. This is something that

often causes confusion among students

and tools such as these can help them

and qualified nurses enormously to

review the importance of the evidence

they find.

Similarly to other books written in,

and perhaps predominantly for, the

United States, some of the terms used

may be confusing outside the US.

For example, the book refers to

institutional review boards – rather than

or as well as research ethics committees

– the US National Institute for Health

and other American organisations.

While this is not a huge disadvantage

to the non-American reader, it could have

been mediated by greater awareness

of the international reach of this book.

There is also a CD-ROM that contains

‘dozens upon dozens’ of documents that

the reader can use. I had some difficulty

in accessing the documents because it

NURSERESEARCHER 2010, 17, 2 89

required administrator rights to view

them in my place of work. This, of course,

is not an insurmountable problem but,

as many of the readers will be accessing

this information in universities and

hospitals, perhaps the use of such files

could have been avoided.

In summary, this is a good research

textbook for nurses. It is not without

its drawbacks but these do not detract

greatly from its worth.

Gordon Hill

Case Study Research in Practice Author: Helen Simons Publishers: Sage Publications Pages: 200 Price: £22.99 ISBN: 076196424X

Case Study Research in Practice explores the

practicalities of and issues that surround

using case studies. It undertakes this

while successfully retaining a clear

and accessible format. It is a book

that is honest about the challenges

of case study-based research and

can assist the reader in developing

rigorous research and understanding

that can successfully stand its ground

in academia, research and practice.

It is therefore useful to nurses engaged

in research and nursing students studying

evidence-based practice.

The book’s logical structure takes the

reader on a journey through the origins of

case studies and then moves on to discuss

their strengths and potential weaknesses,

their uses and the practicalities of using

them. Guidance on developing and

selecting a particular approach and

appropriately defining the research

focus or question is included.

Collecting data, and analysing and

presenting findings are all discussed,

and important theoretical points and

examples are discussed throughout.

This balance and the use of examples,

along with the easy-to-read style, make

it a good choice for those who are new

to case-study methods.

Important methodological concepts

such as validity are outlined and options

for achieving and enhancing them are

provided. The book also considers

real-world issues such as ethics, the

researcher ’s role, participant control

in the research process and participant

anonymity.

In doing so, this book prompts

readers and researchers to consider

ways in which the robustness of their

work can be improved. It is the clarity

with which this is achieved and the

encouragement it provides to readers

that are the real strengths of this book.

Lesley Hayes

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