The new edition upholds the premise that knowledge about research process and design is mandatory in today's health care arena, and that all nurses and midwives need to understand research findings and their implication for changing practice. It is completely revised with many new chapters. The text has been restructured into three sections.

Section 1 Research Awareness sets the scene for the importance of nursing and midwifery research and provides an overview of research theory and practice as processes. Chapters on searching for and reviewing the literature provide detailed advice for undergraduates and facilitate access to research articles online. One of the new chapters discusses ethical issues in Australia and New Zealand.

Section 2 Appreciation and Application provides a detailed discussion of qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods research approaches with many useful examples from the clinical area.

Section 3 Conducting primary research is new and is designed to accommodate both undergraduate and postgraduate students in their research effort.