Merryl Harvey qualified as a nurse in 1982. After qualifying as a midwife in 1984, her area of practice was neonatal intensive care. Merryl's clinical career culminated in her working as a clinical teacher and this in turn led her to take up a post at Birmingham City University. Initially this was to run the post-registration neonatal intensive care course.

In more recent years Merryl was been seconded to work on a number of large-scale, funded research projects which have focused on aspects of parenting and preterm birth. She secured the Bliss Research Fellow post based at the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit (2004-2007). Her MSc explored aspects of the neonatal nurse practitioner role and her PhD explored fathers' experiences of the birth and immediate care of their baby.

Merryl has a strong journal publication history and has co-authored a text on fatherhood in relation to midwifery and neonatal practice (2012). Her co-authored text 'Achieving Your Doctorate while Working in Higher Education' is due to be published by Sage in 2021. Merryl became Professor of Nursing and Family Health at Birmingham City University in 2017.

Before her retirement in 2019, Merryl was co-lead of the Family Health Research Cluster and co-lead of the Elizabeth Bryan Multiple Births Centre.

Part I: Laying the Foundations
Chapter 1: Introduction to Research in Nursing and Midwifery
Chapter 2: Evidence-based Practice
Chapter 3: The Development of Nursing and Midwifery Knowledge
Chapter 4: Quantitative Methodologies: An Overview
Chapter 5: Qualitative Methodologies: An Overview
Chapter 6: Mixed Methodologies: An Overview
Part II: Understanding Research Methods and Designs: The Theory
Chapter 7: Randomised Controlled Trials
Chapter 8: Qualitative Methods
Chapter 9: Surveys, Action Research and Historical Research
Chapter 10: Systematic Reviews
Chapter 11: Research Design
Part III: Using Research Methods and Design: The Practice
Chapter 12: The Research Process
Chapter 13: Literature Review: Identifying and Sourcing the Literature
Chapter 14: Literature Review: Reviewing the Narrative Data
Chapter 15: Sampling
Chapter 16: Quantitative Methods of Data Collection
Chapter 17: Qualitative Methods of Data Collection
Chapter 18: Research Governance in Clinical Research: Addressing Ethical Issues
Part IV: Data Analysis and Evaluation
Chapter 19: Quantitative Data Analysis: Measures of Clinical Effectiveness
Chapter 20: Managing and Analysing Qualitative Data
Chapter 21: Rigour
Chapter 22: Evaluating Research
Part V: Research in Action: Dissemination and Application
Chapter 23: Writing Up and Disseminating Your Research
Chapter 24: Using Research in Clinical Practice
Chapter 25: Writing a Professional Research Proposal
Chapter 26: Where Do I Go from Here?