BOOK>Public Health Researcher

[Laura Larsson]

Friends:

Oxford University press released a book titled: The Public Health
Researcher: A Methodological Guide, in 1997 which seems very readable.
(I'll give the full citation in a moment). I am not recommending the book,
just alerting you to its availability. I spent some time browsing the
contents and particularly liked the helpful boxes containing helpful tips
and hints. 

A quote from the book to give you an idea of the authors' goals.

  "But public health researchers study more than just outbreaks of
disease.  Present-day public health includes issues as diverse as the
prevention of disease and the empowerment of community groups. This
diversity calls for an equally large, and sometimes confusing, array of
research methods. It is now well understood that researchers need to
choose the most appropriate method of analysis for the particular public
health problem being studied. To make this choice, public health
researchers need an overall methodological understanding, including the
capacities and limitations of the range of available methods." 

In twelve chapters, the book covers: History, Public Health, and Research
Methods; Simple Questionnaire Surveys; Epidemiological Surveys;
Observational Designs; Randomised Control Trials; Quality-Adjusted Life
Years (QALYS) or Utilities; Personal Interviews; Focus Group Interviews;
Secondary Analysis; Meta-analysis; Qualitative Innovations; and
Innovations from Cultural and Social Studies. 

The bibliography at the end is 25 pages long, plus each chapter has
citations to support arguments made in the chapter.

Citation: Daly, Jeanne, Allan Kellehear and Michael Gliksman. _Public
Health Researcher: A Methodological Guide_. Melbourne: Oxford University
Press, 1997. ISBN: 0 19 554075 1. 

Amazon.com says the title is, unfortunately, out of stock. Let's hope
Oxford will reprint it. [Hard to believe a book published late in 1997
is already sold out]. 

You might wish to check with your local medical library to see if it's
available there or on interlibrary loan.

Regards,

Laura
larsson at u.washington.edu
listowner: PHNUTR-L, PHNURSES, PNWHEALTH, PHSW, HSR-L +
http://weber.u.washington.edu/~hserv/hshome.html
http://weber.u.washington.edu/~phnutr/nutrhome.html