Research forms an important part of clinical practice for nurses, midwives and allied healthcare professionals (NMAHPs). However, it is known there is a lack of confidence in this community in the development and use of research skills. The 4Ps Programme is a bespoke research-training programme that focuses on four areas: place, project, person and plan. To report an evaluation of the 4Ps Programme that used a survey to record the confidence levels reported by NMAHPs. An increase in participants' confidence was observed across all modules in the 4Ps Programme. This exceeded the standard deviation in the 'place' session, demonstrating genuine improvement. It was not possible to demonstrate a significant improvement in all cases. Low response rates affected the quality of the data obtained in the study, which would have benefitted from a more targeted approach to questions and better enabled the tracking of individuals' improvement over the course of the programme. Participation in bespoke, targeted training related to research could lead to an increase in NMAHPs' confidence in research-related activities. Efforts need to be made to refine the evaluation approach and improve response rates. The 4Ps Programme can improve research-related confidence. Improved and further longitudinal evaluation will assess its impact in developing future clinical academics.

There is increasing recognition of the need to include patients and the public in the research process. There is extensive literature about patient and public involvement (PPI) in research, but fewer articles report on PPI in doctoral research. To reflect on establishing an advisory group for a doctoral study, exploring the opportunities and challenges associated with including patients with dementia in the research process. The authors discuss the practicalities of establishing an advisory group, the challenges of being a novice researcher, long-term commitment to PPI, the overall approach to PPI and ethical considerations. Establishing an advisory group for a doctoral study can facilitate mutual learning and enhance the study's quality. Achieving high-quality PPI in health and social care research can ultimately improve its quality and relevance. An important aspect of the doctoral journey is developing knowledge and skills to facilitate PPI as part of a researcher's apprenticeship.

Coding for gerunds is useful in developing theory in grounded theory. However, it can be confusing for the novice researcher to recognise these words, which consider actions more abstractly. To explain how to identify, analyse and code gerunds, using the example of a constructivist grounded theory study investigating the design of operating rooms. Coding for gerunds helped to illustrate participants' actions and sequences in the example study and added depth to the researcher's understanding of certain topics. Coding gerunds can improve the insights obtained in grounded theory studies. This article may encourage nurse researchers to focus on actions to add depth to their qualitative analyses.

Researchers conducting studies involving pregnant women often find recruitment challenging. The COVID-19 pandemic added further complexity to studies requiring face-to-face participation. To demonstrate how to maintain the principles of practice development (PD) when a study must switch from face-to-face to remote methods of collecting data. The number of participants in the authors' study increased when they moved from face-to-face to telephone engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic. They continued using PD principles when they changed method and the quality of the data they collected remained constant, even once lockdown restrictions were in place. PD principles can offer ways for nurse researchers to engage, collaborate with and reflect with people for research projects, including when constraints compete with participation. They can also assist researchers in optimising and maintaining recruitment and data collection when face-to-face research methods are impossible. The telephone can be a valuable alternative medium for recruiting participants and collecting data when face-to-face methods are impossible to use. PD principles can be maintained and response rates and participation may even be greater when using it.

Co-design is a research method that seeks to engage service users in research. The approach fosters inclusivity and shared power by having researchers and research participants work together for some or all of a study. To describe the experience of co-designing a patient interview study from the perspective of an expert stoma nurse, using a case-study approach and reflexive methods. Valuing expert patients' experiences when conducting research about them enabled patients to be trained as participant researchers to co-design and undertake a patient interview study. The co-design process enabled the researcher to develop a greater recognition of the fact that experience of looking after people with stomas does not equate to expertise in knowing what it is like to have a stoma. This enriched her research experience and increased the authenticity of the study. Co-designing a study with service users creates challenges for nurse researchers. They must pay attention to relational changes, time, planning and organisation to ensure that they conduct their research rigorously and ethically, and safeguard the co-researchers and other participants from potential risks. Co-designing research is critical for developing effective, patient-centred bodies of evidence. Nurse researchers can play a critical role but must be prepared to shift from directive to participatory methods to identify appropriate, patient-focused improvements.

Quantitative researchers can use permutation tests to conduct null hypothesis significance testing without resorting to complicated distribution theory. A permutation test can reach conclusions in hypothesis testing that are the same as those of better-known tests such as the t-test but is much easier to understand and implement. To introduce and explain permutation tests using two real examples of independent and dependent t-tests and their corresponding permutation tests. This article traces the history of permutation tests, explains the possible reason for their absence in textbooks and offers a simple example of their implementation. It provides simple code written in the R programming language to generate the null distributions and P -values for the permutation tests. Permutation tests do not require the strict model assumptions of t -tests and can be robust alternatives. Permutation tests are a useful addition to practitioners' research repertoire for testing hypotheses.

Clinical research nurses and midwives (CRN/Ms) are highly specialised registered nurses. They combine their clinical nursing expertise with research knowledge and skills to aid in the delivery of rigorous, high-quality clinical research to improve health outcomes, the research participant's experience and treatment pathways ( Beer et al 2022 ). However, there is evidence that the transition into a CRN/M role is challenging for registered nurses. To discuss the development of a competency framework for CRN/Ms. The authors identified a gap in their organisation for standards that would support the development of CRN/Ms new to the role. The standards needed to be clear and accessible to use while encompassing the breadth of scope of CRN/Ms' practice. The authors used a systematic and inclusive process drawing on Benner's ( 1984 ) theory of competence development to develop a suitable framework. Stakeholders engaged in its development included research participants, inclusion agents and CRN/Ms. The project identified 15 elements that are core to the CRN/M role and the knowledge, skills and behaviours associated with it. A large NHS trust has implemented the framework. It is also being shown to national and regional networks. Evaluation is under way.

It may be challenging for researchers to recruit enough participants to have a diverse and representative sample for their studies. Usual recruitment methods that were historically effective can be difficult to use because of high costs, time constraints and geographical limitations. Social media is a low-cost, time-saving alternative. To summarise the benefits and challenges of using social media for recruitment. This article provides an overview of social media. It considers the advantages of social media for recruitment, including its cost-effectiveness, accessibility, speed and potential exposure for researchers. It also discusses the challenges of using social media for recruitment, including ethical ambiguity, homogenous sampling and questionable validity of information gathered. Using social media for research saves time and reduces costs, increasing access to hard-to-reach populations and the reach of recruitment efforts. Options for researchers wishing to use social media for study recruitment are outlined, as are strategies for managing some of the challenges involved in this recruitment method.

Several drivers are currently leading to greater emphasis of the importance of ensuring research has impact. Nursing research aims to improve patient care, safety and well-being, so it might be assumed results with the potential to effect such changes would automatically have an impact on clinical practice. However, experience suggests this is not the case and careful attention is needed for there to be an impact. To present the example of a project commissioned to develop a health communication tool to support people with learning disabilities in accessing healthcare. The authors explore the importance of a planned approach to impact by referencing existing frameworks and providing examples of strategies used in the project. They also discuss the importance of framing the question using a range of approaches to actively engage stakeholders and of using diverse strategies to embed the development in practice. A planned approach is required to maximise impact from research. Planning and associated actions need to start at the very beginning of the research project and continue beyond the point of delivering the project report. This paper relates to a specific context and patient group but the principles discussed are transferable to other clinical settings and patient groups.