Few behavioral or health science studies proceed seamlessly. This refreshingly candid guide presents firsthand vignettes of obstacles on the bumpy road of research and offers feasible, easy-to-implement solutions. Contributors from a range of disciplines describe real-world problems at each stage of a quantitative or qualitative research project—from gaining review board approval to collecting and analyzing data—and discuss how these problems were resolved. A detailed summary chart helps readers quickly find material on specific issues, methods, and settings. Written with clarity and wit, the vignettes provide exemplars of critical thinking that researchers can apply when developing the operational plan of a study or when facing practical difficulties in a particular research phase. Winner--American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award!

Table of Contents:
Going Off the Rails: An Introduction, Souraya Sidani and David L. Streiner I. Ethics Approval 1. When Mountains Move Too Slowly, Melanie A. Hwalek and Victoria L. Straub 2. The Ethics of Sex Research on the Internet, Alissa Sherry and Amy Amidon 3. When Safeguards Become Straitjackets: How Ethics Research Board Requirements Might Contribute to Ethical Dilemmas in Studies with Marginalized Populations, Mechthild Meyer, Alma Estable, Lynne MacLean, and Nancy Edwards 4. Going Off the Rails for “Love or Moneyâ€: Implementation Issues Related to Payment of Research Participants in an Addiction-Research Project, Brian R. Rush and Dominique Morisano II. Accessing the Participants 5. Frailty, Thy Name Is Macho, José Quirino dos Santos 6. Power in Numbers: Research with Families in Long-Term Care, Julie M. Dergal Serafini 7. Getting the Wrong Gatekeeper, Lynne MacLean 8. Breaking into Court, Mandeep K. Dhami and Karen A. Souza 9. The RDC Archipelago, Scott Veldhuizen, John Cairney, and David L. Streiner III. Recruitment and Retention 10. Small Colleges and Small n’s, Christopher Koch and Anna Tabor 11. Mitigating the Impact of External Forces, Souraya Sidani, David L. Streiner, and Chantale Marie LeClerc 12. A Trip to the School of Hard Knocks: Recruiting Participants from Health Service Agencies for Qualitative Studies of Aging, Kathleen W. Piercy 13. All Aboard!: Using Community Leaders to Keep Clinical Researchers on Track, Philippe Barrette 14. Changing Horses in Midstream: Transforming a Study to Address Recruitment Problems, Anthony S. Joyce 15. When Cost Meets Efficiency: Rethinking Ways to Sample a Rare Population, Julian Montoro-Rodriguez and Gregory C. Smith 16. The Story Is in the Numbers, Robert van Reekum 17. Strategies for Retaining Participants in Longitudinal Research with Economically Disadvantaged and Ethnically Diverse Samples, Elizabeth A. Goncy, Michelle E. Roley, and Manfred H. M. van Dulmen 18. Culturally Specific Strategies for Retention and Adherence to Physical Activity Interventions in Hispanic Women, Colleen Keller, Julie Fleury, and Adrianna Perez IV. Study Implementation 19. When a Beautiful Intervention Meets Ugly Reality: Implementing an Intervention in the Real World, Souraya Sidani, David L. Streiner, and Chantale Marie LeClerc 20. When Saving Blood Goes Wrong, Claudio S. Cinà and Catherine M. Clase 21. PDA = Pretty Darned Awful: The Trials and Tribulations of Running Trials of PDAs, Geoffrey R. Norman 22. When Sugar Is Not So Sweet: Camera Shyness and Intentional Cointervention Almost Derail a Study, Françoise Filion and C. Celeste Johnston 23. Placebo Problems: Power and Persecution, or Paranoia?, Robert van Reekum V. Data Collection 24. Revisiting Traditional Survey Methodology to Recruit and Survey Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Older Adults, S. Melinda Spencer and Julie Hicks Patrick 25. Technology: Help or Hindrance?, Nasreen Roberts 26. Hoist on Our Own Postcard, David L. Streiner 27. On the Finer Points of Handling Googlies: Reflections on Hits, Near Misses, and Full-Blown Swings at the Air in Large, Population-Based Studies Involving School, Parents, and Children, John Cairney, John A. Hay, and Brent E. Faught 28. Pets, Pies, and Videotape: Conducting In-Home Observational Research with Late-Life Intergenerational Families, Brian D. Carpenter and Steve Balsis 29. Underfunded but Not Undone, Dianne Bryant 30. Community-Based Participatory Research: A Lesson in Humility, Dennis Watson 31. Where Did All the Bodies Go?, Harry S. Shannon 32. Measures for Improving Measures, Katherine McKnight, and Patrick E. McKnight VI. Data Analysis 33. Drowsing Over Data: When Less Is More, Lynne MacLean, Alma Estable, Mechthild Meyer, Anita Kothari, Nancy Edwards, and Barb Riley 34. Bigger Is Not Always Better: Adventures in the World of Survey Data Analysis, Sylvia Kairouz and Louise Nadeau 35. Taking Aim at a Moving Target: When a Study Changes in the Middle, Arturo Martí-Carvajal 36. Lack of Normative Data as an Obstacle to Neuropsychological Assessment, F. Richard Ferraro and Kaylee Trottier-Wolter 37. These Data Do Not Compute, Lynne MacLean, Mechthild Meyer, Alma Estable, Anita Kothari, and Nancy Edwards 38. Avoiding Data Disasters and Other Pitfalls, Melinda F. Davis 39. When Interpretation Goes Awry: The Impact of Interim Testing, Dale Glaser VII. Collaboration 40. What Happened to Cooperation and Collaboration?, Nasreen Roberts 41. Presto! It’s Gone: When a Study Ceases to Exist Right before Your Eyes, Katrina L. Bledsoe 42. Building Stakeholder Capacity to Enhance Effectiveness in Participatory Program Evaluation, Debazou Y. Yantio VIII. Final Thoughts 43. Sometimes It Is the Researcher, Not the Research, That Goes “Off the Railsâ€: The Value of Clear, Complete, and Precise Information in Scientific Reports, Joseph A. Durlak, Christine I. Celio, Molly K. Pachan, and Kriston B. Schellinger 44. A Healthy Dose of Realism, Souraya Sidani and David L. Streiner