Keeping novice researchers out of trouble

Introduction to project management in health research: a guide for new researchers. T Usherwood. Buckingham: Open University Press 1996 (x +100 pp.). ISBN 0-335-19707-8.

This neat little 100-pager, written by Tim Usherwood, now the Professor of General Practice at the University of Sydney, but originally from the United Kingdom, is designed to help new researchers in the health field go about undertaking a research project without coming unstuck. The book is clear and takes a no-nonsense approach, with chapters addressing the conventional stages of undertaking research. This is not a book designed to inspire would-be researchers (for that it might be better to read J G R Howie's classic Research in general practice); rather, this book will keep you out of trouble, and remind you to do all those things that must not be left undone . . . There are chapters on defining research objectives; planning the project; ethics and funding (rather scanty on this latter, and oriented to British conditions); undertaking the project; and finishing. The notion of ensuring the correct relationship between the researcher and all the stakeholders is cleverly expounded. There is a useful description of how to use a Gantt chart (a type of bar chart showing the work planned and done in relation to time), and clear diagrams assist the text. The book is illustrated with a general practice research project (involving asthma), and we return to this repeatedly in a series of boxed sections that help in understanding the text. The style is direct, and the book is brief enough to be easily read overnight by research officers and investigators -- before they blunder into too many mistakes. I think it will be useful to many. It is the sort of thing I would like to hand out to people and say, "Read this tonight. It might keep you out of trouble". Chris Del Mar Professor of General Practice University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD