Includes index.

Contents: Investigating health services and health: the scope of research: Evaluating health services: multidisciplinary collaboration -- Social research on health: sociological and psychological concepts and approaches -- Quality of life: concepts, measurements and patient perception -- Health needs and their assessment: demography and epidemiology -- Costing health services: health economics -- The Philosophy, theory and practice of research: The Philosophical framework of measurement -- The Principles of research -- Quantitative research: sampling and research methods: Sample size and sampling for quantitative and qualitative research -- Quantitative research: surveys -- Quantitative research: experiments and other analytic methods of investigation -- Sample selection and group assignment methods in experiments and other analytic methods -- The Tools of quantitative research: Data collection methods in quantitative research: questionnaires, interviews and their response rates -- Questionnaire design -- Techniques of survey interviewing -- Preparation of quantitative data for coding and analysis -- Qualitative and mixed research methods: Unstructured and structured observational studies -- Unstructured interviewing -- Focus group -- Mixed research approaches.