We hope that the textbook, and the material on this site, will be useful both for students who are being taught research methods in a formal class or lectures, and that it will also be a useful work of reference when you are doing a research project yourself - either for a thesis or dissertation during your course or clinical programme, or after you have completed your training and you do more research as a professional. In addition to helping you do your own research, we also hope that it will help you understand published research in the field, to become, as the current buzzword has it, an evidence-based practitioner.

The organization of the text follows the chronology of a clinical research project, from beginning to end (with occasional excursions into important background material, such as philosophy of science and professional issues). It can therefore be read cover to cover if you are wanting a comprehensive familiarity with research methods. However, the text is also designed as a reference to be dipped into, as the need arises, and we hope that the indexes, table of contents, and chapter key points will help readers easily locate relevant topics. Most of the material is covered at a relatively introductory level. If you find that you need more details on any topic, the suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter, and also the material on this site, are designed to complement and supplement what is in the text.