Key Topics in Clinical Research aims to provide a short, clear, highlighted reference to guide trainees and trainers through research and audit projects, from first idea, through to data collection and statistical analysis, to presentation and publication

1. Medical researas part of post-graduate training 2. Researprocess 3. Researideas 4. Literature searching 5. Laboratory research 6. Researinvolving animals 7. Volunteer studies 8. Qualitative research 9. Researdesign 10. Randomization 11. Conducting clinical trials 12. Sample size and power 13. Researethics committees 14. Grant application 15. Data collection 16. Measurements 17. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics 18. Types of data 19. Summarising data 20. Measures of central tendency and dispersion 21. The normal distribution 22. Principles of statistical analysis - estimation and hypothesis, testing 23. Student's t test 24. Wilcoxon matched pairs signed rank sum test 25. Mann-Whitney U test 26. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) 27. Chi squared and Fisher's exact test 28. Correlation and regression 29. Logistic regression 30. Sensitivity and specifity 31. Survival data 32. Choice of statistical methods 33. Systemic review and meta-analysis 34. Sensitivity and specificity 35. Giving a presentation 36. Writing up: case reports, publications and thesis 37. Reference management 38. Peer review 39. Audit 40. Risk adjustment and SMR 41. ICNARC 42. Protocol and guidelines