ABSTRACT
By now you will have developed an understand ing in your own mind about how research fits with clinical practice. We should be ready for the next challenge: to make sense of some of the most commonly used kinds of research design.
You have already come across the two most important kinds of research: quantitative and qualitative research. Now we will look more closely, particularly at quantitative research, to identify some of the more important subtypes of research. It is not necessary to know about every kind of research design, but knowing some of the more important ones will be a great beginning and will allow you to make sense of other research methodologies as and when you come across them.
