This morning ResearchGate alerted us that our paper ‘The importance of pilot studies’ [1] had reached 500 citations. Profs. Vanora Hundley and Edwin van Teijlingen, both in BU’s Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH) have published several methods papers [1-6] on the importance of (a) conducting pilot studies, but also (b) reporting on their outcomes and lessons learnt. It started more than two decades ago with lessons learnt from the Scottish Birth study [2]. Followed by a methods paper in a sociology journal [3], one in a midwifery journal [4] and one in a family planning journal [5]. The icing on the pudding was an encyclopedia entry in 2003 [6].
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References:
- van Teijlingen E, Hundley, V. (2002) ‘The importance of pilot studies’ Nursing Standard 16(40): 33-36. Web: nursing-standard.co.uk/archives/vol16-40/pdfs/vol16w40p3336.pdf
- van Teijlingen, E., Rennie, AM., Hundley, V., Graham, W. (2001) The importance of conducting & reporting pilot studies: example of Scottish Births Survey, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 34: 289-95.
- van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V. (2001) The importance of pilot studies, Social Research Update Issue 35, (Editor N. Gilbert), Guildford: University of Surrey. Web: http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/sru/SRU35.html
- Hundley, V., van Teijlingen E. (2002) The role of pilot studies in midwifery research RCM Midwives Journal 5(11): 372-74.
- van Teijlingen, E, Hundley, V. (2005) Pilot studies in family planning & reproductive health care, Journal of Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care 31(3): 219-21.
- van Teijlingen E, Hundley, V. (2003) Pilot study, In: Encyclopaedia of Social Science Research Methods, Vol. 2, Lewis-Beck, M., Bryman, A. & Liao, T. (eds.), Orego, Sage: 823-24.