Description:

Research Methods for Public Health provides foundational knowledge and practical guidance for all steps in the research process using public health examples and real-world applications to reinforce all concepts. It covers everything students need to have a firm basis on how to design public health research, how to collect and manage data using a variety of study designs and methods, and how to share research results. Foundational topics such as searching the literature, finding gaps, formulating research questions, operationalization and measurement, sampling, budgeting for research studies, summarizing and visualizing data, disseminating results and more are explained in clear and accessible prose. The textbook emphasizes skills including question development, survey design and implementation, qualitative methodology, mixed methods research, how to record and analyze quantitative and qualitative data, and how to use secondary data. Regardless of whether you are starting your scientific research career path, or are on track to become a public health practitioner, or plan on becoming a health policymaker, this textbook provides an authoritative introduction to research and its importance on improving public health practice for everyone entering the field.

Richly illustrated and with an abundance of helpful tables, boxes, and practical public health case studies and examples, this textbook contains the core principles, concepts, and knowledge of how to design, plan, evaluate, and disseminate public health research.

Key Features:

• Provides the principles and best practices of general research methods texts combined with specific public health relevance
• Applicable to students who want to conduct research as part of their career as well as those who need the skills to understand how public health evidence is developed through research
• Includes chapters on Developing Budgets and Timelines for Research Studies and Disseminating Research Results, topics often overlooked in other textbooks
• Aligns content with program competencies and skills essential for those entering the public health field
• Contains numerous illustrations, tables, boxes, and case studies which provide important context to key concepts

Contents:

Preface

I. Public Health Research Basics

Chapter 1. The Importance of Research in Public Health

Chapter 2. Literature Search and Research-Question Development

Chapter 3. Ethics in Public Health Research

II. Research Details and Design

Chapter 4. Operationalization and Measurement

Chapter 5. Sampling

Chapter 6. Quantitative Study Designs: Experimental

Chapter 7. Quantitative Study Designs: Nonexperimental

Chapter 8. Developing Budgets and Timelines for Research Studies

III. Quantitative Research

Chapter 9. Quantitative Data Collection

Chapter 10. Quantitative Data Analysis

IV. Qualitative Research

Chapter 11. Qualitative Study Designs

Chapter 12. Qualitative Data Collection

Chapter 13. Qualitative Data Analysis

V. Visualizing, Messaging, and Disseminating Results

Chapter 14. Summarizing and Visualizing Data

Chapter 15. Disseminating Research Results

Index

About the Author:

Amy A. Eyler, PhD, CHES, is an associate professor in the graduate program of public health in the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. She currently chairs the public health sector standing committee of the U.S. National Physical Activity Plan. She was the past chair of the physical activity section of the American Public Health Association (APHA), a member of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), and is a Certified Health Education Specialist. For over a decade, she served as principal investigator for the Physical Activity Policy Research Network (PAPRN), a national network of researchers to study the influence of policy on population physical activity. Dr. Eyler also served as senior associate editor for the Journal of Physical Activity and Health. She remains actively involved in physical activity promotion at the local and national level. Locally, she serves on the university’s wellness steering committee and volunteers with several community organizations such as TrailNet and Girls on the Run. She has an extensive publication record, including the 2016 book titled Prevention, Policy, and Public Health, and was an author on the Institute of Medicine report Educating the Student Body. She also contributed to the 2017 U.S. National Physical Activity Plan Walking and Walkability Report Card. Dr. Eyler’s main research interests are health promotion through community policy and environmental interventions, with a focus on physical activity and obesity prevention. She has a master’s degree in Physical Education and Adult Fitness from Ohio University and a doctorate in Public Health from Oregon State University.

Target Audience:

This book is for public health practitioners and health policymakers.