Introduction: the context for researching health / Mike Saks and Judith Allsop -- Competing paradigms and health research: design and process / Alex Broom and Evan Willis -- Doing a literature review in health / Kathryn Jones -- Using documents in health research / Andy Alaszewski -- Unstructured and semi-structured interviews in health research / Jacqueline Low -- Participant observation in health research / David Hughes -- The use of focus groups in research into health / Judith Green -- Action research and health / Heather Waterman -- Health research sampling methods / Peter Davis, Alastair Scott and Martin von Randow -- Quantitative survey methods in health research / Michael Calnan -- Statistical methods for health data analysis / George Argyrous -- Randomized controlled trials / George Lewith and Paul Little -- Experimental methods in health research / A. Niroshan Siriwardena -- The use of economics in health research / Alan Maynard -- Governance and ethics in health research / Priscilla Alderson -- Researching complementary and alternative medicine / Janet Richardson and Mike Saks -- Researching the health of ethnic minority groups / Mark R.D. Johnson -- Gender and health research / Ellen Kuhlmann and Ellen Annandale -- Public health research / Stephen Gillam, Penny Cavenagh, and Peter Bradley -- Involving the user in health research / Sophie Hill -- Comparative health research / Viola Burau -- Mixed methods and multidisciplinary research in health care / Jonathan Tritter -- The research process and writing up health research / Judith Allsop and Mike Saks -- Disseminating and using health research / Mike Saks and Judith Allsop.