Sage Publishing Advanced Design in Nursing Research

Is there a framework to help the nursing researcher make sense of the wide variety of research methods now available? Is there a context in which the research designer can consider which method is most appropriate to her or his specific study, given the research topic and the extent of research that has gone before? The answer to both of these questions is an emphatic yes!--as seen in this second edition of Pamela J. Brink and Marilynn J. WoodÆs seminal work, Advanced Design in Nursing Research. Using the principle that "the level of knowledge available on a research topic determines the level of design that can be used to study that topic," the authors clearly and succinctly present discussions of research at the three levels of design, moving from rigidly controlled, theoretically-based experimental designs to comparative and correlational survey designs, and concluding with the exploratory-descriptive research designs that frequently initiate the study of a topic. Within the basic categories, authoritative researchers explore a broad range of specific design types, noting their characteristics, strengths and weaknesses, applicability to nursing research, ethical considerations, reliability and validity, and methods of data analysis. Advanced Design in Nursing Research, Second Edition provides not only a context for design decision making, but an orientation and point of departure for the research design process itself. These features make this volume an excellent text for advanced-level nursing students and a superb library addition for the researcher or clinician desiring a comprehensive self reference on research design.