Health care research by degrees N Reid Health care research by degrees Blackwell Scientific 162pp £13.99 0632-03466-1 [Formula: see text].
Inadequately understood statistics so often cloud both the argument of the researcher and the judgement of the reader. Norma Reid brings a refreshing clarity to a complex topic; she takes the mystification and mystique out of statistics. Her basic premiss that theory ought to be based on practical utility and relevance shines through her text and helps to make the subject accessible co clinicians who want to understand the underpinnings of their practice. Research methods, particularly qualitative approaches, are sketchily dealt with when compared with the wealth of detail on the mechanics of computing. Also, it is awkward to find methods and analysis not clearly separated in places (eg, Delphi studies), but ample references direct the reader to more expansive sources. Any attempt to steer the uninitiated through the minefields of computing is fraught with difficulties, and some will be disappointed to find one system used exclusively, but, perhaps, it serves as an illustration rather than a course to be slavishly followed.