The text is organised around a selection of 8-10 seminal studies which have been selected based on their significance and ability to represent the broad scope of the discipline. Studies are selected to provide a vehicle to cover key methods for nursing research and to represent some of the diversity of the research topics that constitute the discipline. Because of the wide international audience, the editors take a broad view of the ′family′ of nursing to include health visiting, public health nursing and midwifery and nurse midwifery.