Research: The Validation of Clinical Practice, 3d ed.

Payton OD. Philadelphia, PA 19103-1493, FA Davis Co, 1994, paperback, 355 pp, 22.95.

By "the validation of clinical practice," Payton, who is a physical therapist and FAPTA, means "the process by which we can test and improve what we do, as health professionals, to and for our clients or patients." The author's purpose is to provide a basic means to examine and explain this process, Another purpose of the book is to teach the reader how to interpret the research of others. The book is aimed at entry-level students in the fields of occupational therapy and physical therapy.

The book consists of 11 chapters and six appendixes. The chapters include basic concepts in research, introduction to research design, measurement, reliability and validity, descriptive and correlational research, single-case designs, group experimental designs, the library as a tool, and the role of theory in research. All of the chapter topics previously appeared in the second edition of the text. The appendixes give an outline for writing a research protocol, a reconstructed protocol for a 1992 article from Physical Therapy, reprints of seven articles addressed in the text, statistical and writing references, a glossary, and a summary of statistical concepts. Of the seven reprints, two appeared in the second edition and five are from articles appearing since 1991.

The text does leave out some important references, such as the Primer on Measurement, An Introductoy Guide to Measurement Issues. Also, the summary on the statistical concepts does not provide sufficient explanation for the intended audience. The statistical references in the appendix are listed from easy to hard, whereas organization by usefulness for various statistics would have been more helpful to the reader. Also, more material on interpreting statistical tests and concepts as opposed to manipulating numbers would have been appropriate. Although some information has been updated for the third edition, such as a discussion of meta-analysis, I feel that addressing decision analysis and technology assessment of therapy, such as coverage of false classifications, is lacking considering that this is a text for validating clinical practice.

As a whole, the information and the use of reprints in this book is concise and thorough which make it ideal for an introductory course on research or research design for entry-level physical therapy or occupational therapy students. I feel the text is excellent for meeting its stated primary purpose of teaching students and beginning researchers how to read and understand research literature. The reader, however, would find it difficult to validate his or her clinical practice, as the title suggests, after reading this text. This text would not be recommended for a course on research design and statistics. For the intermediate or advanced researcher, other texts should be consulted.