A simple and systematic guide to the planning and performance of investigations concerned with health and disease and with health care Offers researchers help in choosing a topic and to think about shaping objectives and ideas and to link these with the appropriate choice of method Fully updated with new sections on the use of the Web and computer programmes freely available in the planning, performance or analysis of studies

Presenting the newest edition of this popular text, providing a guide to the basics of planning a medical survey. Doctors, students, and anyone interested in conducting medical surveys will benefit from this practical, systematic, and accessible guide to the design, conduct, and analysis of studies. Also, all new practical advice on investigating a community, as well as coverage of the basics of the subject, i.e. formulating the objectives, methods of collecting data, and more!

The purpose of this book is to provide a simple and systematic guide to the planning and performance of investigations concerned with health and disease and with health care, whether they are studies designed to widen the horizons of scientific knowledge or whether they have more directly practical aims, such as the provision of information needed as a basis for immediate decisions and action. It is not a compendium of detailed techniques of investigation or of statistical methods, but an ABC to the design, conduct and analysis of studies.

Providing a comprehensive foundation for planning, executing, and monitoring public health research of all types, this book goes beyond traditional epidemiologic research designs to cover technology-based approaches emerging in the new public health landscape.

To the uninformed, surveys appear to be an easy type of research to design and conduct, but when students and professionals delve deeper, they encounter the vast complexities that the range and practice of survey methods present. To complicate matters, technology has rapidly affected the way surveys can be conducted; today, surveys are conducted via cell phone, the Internet, email, interactive voice response, and other technology-based modes. Thus, students, researchers, and professionals need both a comprehensive understanding of these complexities and a revised set of tools to meet the challenges. In conjunction with top survey researchers around the world and with Nielsen Media Research serving as the corporate sponsor, the Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods presents state-of-the-art information and methodological examples from the field of survey research. Although there are other "how-to" guides and references texts on survey research, none is as comprehensive as this Encyclopedia, and none presents the material in such a focused and approachable manner. With more than 600 entries, this resource uses a Total Survey Error perspective that considers all aspects of possible survey error from a cost-benefit standpoint. Key Features Covers all major facets of survey research methodology, from selecting the sample design and the sampling frame, designing and pretesting the questionnaire, data collection, and data coding, to the thorny issues surrounding diminishing response rates, confidentiality, privacy, informed consent and other ethical issues, data weighting, and data analyses Presents a Reader′s Guide to organize entries around themes or specific topics and easily guide users to areas of interest Offers cross-referenced terms, a brief listing of Further Readings, and stable Web site URLs following most entries The Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods is specifically written to appeal to beginning, intermediate, and advanced students, practitioners, researchers, consultants, and consumers of survey-based information.