What is nursing research

Nurse researchers, whether working alone or within interdisciplinary teams, consider appropriate boundaries between practice and research, address conflicts of interest, provide for protection of subjects, and maintain systems of checks and balances to ensure the integrity of the research enterprise.

As part of the profession's responsibility for advocacy, nurses take appropriate action whenever scientific misconduct is identified. Regardless of discipline, the research enterprise can thrive only when certain prerequisites are in place, including a culture supportive of research and scholarship; strong mentoring in the intellectual work of the discipline; educational programs to ensure an adequately sized and appropriately educated research workforce; and provision for necessary infrastructure and funding mechanisms to support coherent programs of research.

Cultures supportive of research and scholarship generally develop within academic institutions where knowledge development, discourse, and debate are expected and encouraged.

Given the broad scope of nursing research, this also means that nurse researchers require environments that support integration of various approaches to inquiry. Collaborative research among nurse scientists that brings together a range of perspectives on a particular question will result not only in a better understanding of and coherence in the entire discipline, but also in an understanding of how knowledge from one field complements and extends learning in another.

Further, contemporary research problems demand that nurse scientists move into more interprofessional collaboration, team-based work, and increase attention to the rapid progression to safe and appropriate practical application of findings NIH, Programs of nursing that offer baccalaureate and higher degrees lay the groundwork for the research enterprise by preparing professional nurses capable of using scientific knowledge in their practice and contributing to new knowledge.

Such programs are committed to teaching and integrating nursing research as well as other relevant research e. Teaching from such a base prepares graduates to evaluate and use evidence appropriately and, with advanced preparation, generate new knowledge for nursing practice.

The ultimate goal of research training in nursing at all levels is to strengthen the profession's contribution to enhancing the health and healthcare of individuals and populations. The expectations and competencies of graduates at each level of nursing education in regard to research are described below:. Just as all collegiate schools of nursing do not offer the total range of degree programs, not all academic nursing environments can offer equal support to the research enterprise.

While it is understandable that many nursing schools aspire to offer the research-focused doctorate, not all schools are well-suited to this activity.

In order to ensure that future nurse scientists successfully develop and sustain significant programs of research, serious attention must be paid to the research culture in which they will be trained.

The next stage of development in nursing research encompasses the creation of highly dynamic research environments that enable a greater proportion of faculty to excel as scientists, in that the volume and quality of their work has a substantial influence on health care. The nursing research enterprise has made great strides over the last 30 years, and many nursing schools have well-established research environments. Nevertheless, future progress may be impeded by two worrisome trends: 1 most nursing doctorates are earned much later in life than is true in other disciplines, thus shortening the time available for an active research career, and 2 production of new nurse faculty and in particular, new nurse scientists is far behind what is needed now and in the future.

A significant challenge facing the nursing research community is that nurses tend to pursue doctoral study later in their careers than those in other research fields. Given that the median age of retirement for doctorally prepared nurse faculty is A major policy and cultural shift is needed in nursing doctoral education to achieve earlier entry into research careers National Research Council, The mean number of years from completion of a baccalaureate degree to graduation from a research-focused doctoral program is Likewise, the mean number of years registered in a doctoral program prior to graduation is 1.

Earlier matriculation into doctoral programs and full-time study will enable graduates to establish long-term careers in academic nursing and develop sustained programs of research and teaching. The shortage of doctorally prepared faculty will continue to exert a negative effect on nursing's research agenda well into the future by severely limiting the pool of available nurse scientists, straining the human and fiscal resources necessary for the conduct of research, and creating circumstances in which new investigators will have difficulty in establishing and maintaining productive research programs.

Strategies have been identified to ensure the continued vitality of nursing research during this critical time AACN, Importance of a Research-Intensive Environment.

A research-intensive environment is essential in order to generate the science base for nursing and interprofessional practice and to educate future generations of nurse scientists. Financial support and a strong value for generating as well as disseminating knowledge must be present within departments and schools, in the larger academic institution, and at the national level.

The importance placed on the research mission by the larger institution has a major impact on a school of nursing's research environment. In research-intensive environments, support is evident in the hiring and retention packages provided for investigators; peer and administrative review mechanisms used for appointments and promotions; availability of start-up research funds for faculty; and support for continuing faculty development in research, such as professional leaves and sabbaticals, career awards, and pilot funding.

Schools of nursing provide the research environment for faculty and the next generation of nurse scientists. A supportive infrastructure may include an office or center for research; concentrated centers or areas of research excellence; formative and summative mock reviews of grant applications and manuscripts; informal or formal mentorship programs; visiting scholars; and internal and external consultants.

Institutional research training grants and leadership in interdisciplinary research training grants provide key infrastructure support for educating the next generations of clinical scientists. The research productivity of the faculty including grants obtained and sustained, manuscripts published, and the number of doctorally prepared graduate faculty and the successes of doctoral program graduates are indicators of an environment in which faculty research can flourish AACN, Research productivity in schools of nursing is enhanced by faculty appointed on research tracks as well as by tenure-track faculty with active programs of research.

Faculty with research appointments devote their full effort to research and are often expected to generate their salaries through research funding. Research-track faculty enhance the productivity of the overall research enterprise through collaborating with tenure-track faculty as well as developing their own programs of research.

As a result, faculty build research programs supported by multiple grants and greatly expand the scope and impact of their science. Moreover, wider university support for field-specific and interdisciplinary research is crucial to enable nurse scientists to lead interdisciplinary research teams and to participate fully as team members.

Policies regarding distribution of indirect cost returns, establishment of centers of excellence across disciplinary or professional boundaries, and central support for interdisciplinary work enables teams of committed researchers to exchange views and collaborate effectively to solve complex scientific problems.

In such settings, research permeates the entire academic enterprise. As adequate research infrastructure at the national level also is critical.

Opportunities for nurse scientists to present their work for scrutiny and consideration by colleagues include peer-reviewed discipline-specific and interdisciplinary journals that cover the full spectrum of nursing research. In addition, regional, national, and international conferences provide wide exposure of nursing research within and outside the discipline. Nurse scientists obtain funding from a wide range of federal and private sources. Indeed, diversity of funding streams is essential to maintain a healthy research infrastructure.

Federal funding sources including NINR and other NIH institutes provide funding for nursing research and support for research training for pre- and post-doctoral students, new investigators, and mid-career researchers. AHRQ funds research on the outcomes, effectiveness, and quality of health care conducted by all health professions scientists. Professional, public, and private organizations also offer competitive research funding and training support e. Hartford Foundation.

Despite a documented need for more doctorally prepared research faculty and postdoctoral education, the quality of preparation possible in any academic nursing setting will be compromised if the research environment is not supported adequately. Building the research infrastructure is vital to strengthening nursing research's impact on the public's health and health care outcomes. Therefore, increasing the funding base available to nurse scientists is critical.

The Research Mission: Challenges and Opportunities. Nursing research faces a number of challenges and opportunities stemming from rapid growth and limited resources.

In the past two decades, with the rapid expansion of resources for research, nursing's contribution to evidence-based practice and health policy has increased exponentially. Even so, a number of challenges are preventing the discipline of nursing from achieving its full scientific potential. Career Trajectories of Nurse Scientists Basic to all other challenges faced by the nursing research community is the problematic nature of the typical nurse scientist's career trajectory NRC, : late commitment to doctoral preparation, which in turn severely truncates opportunities for research and leadership.

This traditional career pathway drastically curtails development of the research base for nursing practice because of shortened programs of investigation.

In addition, it limits the ability of nurse scientists to provide multiple levels of leadership especially national health policy leadership and thus to impact policy. The need to change this career trajectory has instigated the development of baccalaureate-to-doctoral programs.

However, in order to provide incentives for early entry into doctoral programs, future nurse scientists will require continued and expanded commitment and availability of funding, such as institutional T32 , individual predoctoral F31 , and postdoctoral F32 fellowships. Unfortunately, traditional nursing career pathways have not shifted dramatically.

As Potempa and Tilden noted, the teaching component has dominated the tripartite academic mission, sometimes at the expense of research. Equal emphasis can be placed on research development in schools of nursing, such that curricular demands coincide with faculty research expectations. Alternative types of faculty workloads can be created to foster the development of comprehensive and cohesive programs of research at schools of nursing.

These alternatives may include a system of incentives and rewards, such as attractive start-up packages and early investment by administration to sustain focused faculty research.

Impact of the Nursing Faculty Shortage on Research Schools of nursing and affiliated health organizations are under major financial pressures to deliver educational and health services more effectively.

These shortages pose a serious challenge to the generation of knowledge for nursing practice and health policy. This crisis will impact systematic initiatives that enhance the academic research enterprise, and it has significant implications for the long-term research productivity for the discipline.

Limited financial resources in the context of a larger student-to-faculty ratio create competing demands across academic institutions in general, and specifically, influence the tripartite mission of nursing education, research, and practice. Balancing these multiple roles requires the creative integration of education and research and the use of interdisciplinary opportunities to enhance research productivity.

Mechanisms that protect and promote the core mission of an environment of discovery and maintain the research infrastructure must be developed and tested. Incentives to position faculty to compete effectively for extramural research while at the same time preserving the teaching mission, should be considered. Specialized faculty assignments i. Research Collaboration and Partnerships Additional efforts to promote and support collaborations by a variety of scientists are needed.

Institutions must develop effective mechanisms that improve linkages across research programs in biomedical, clinical, health services, and prevention research Institute of Medicine, b.

No notes for slide. Nursing Research 1. One seeks new knowledge or to directly utilize knowledge specific to life situations. It is the collection of data in a rigorously controlled situation for the purpose of prediction or explanation. Polit and Beck - systematic inquiry designed to develop knowledge about issues of importance to the nursing profession, including nursing practice, education, administration and informatics.

It is concerned with examining questions and verifying interventions based on human experiences. Committee on research of the PNA - Research is an honest scientific investigation undertaken for the purpose of discovering new facts or establishing new relationships among facts already known which will contribute to the present body of knowledge and can lead to effective solution of the present problem.

It involves careful or critical thinking to revise or to revalidate accepted conclusions and previously held concepts or established generations or principles. PNA, Nieswiadomy — systematic objective process of analyzing phenomena of importance to nursing. Clinical nursing research indicates nursing research involving clients or studies that have the potential for affecting the care of clients, such as with the studies of animals or the so-called normal subjects.

Assembled information e. Empiricism-objective methods of seeking information Systematic- systematic fashion from identifying a problem to conclusions and recommendations RA Section 28 e states that: It shall be the duty of the nurse to: e Undertake nursing and health human resource development training and research which shall include, but not limited to the development of advance nursing practice.

Provide valuable assistance in identifying research problems and collecting data for studies. ANA Master's Degree 1. Conduct investigations 3. Initial studies in collaboration with other investigators 4.

Facilitate research and provide consultation ANA Doctoral Degree 1. Assume a major role in the conduct of research. Generation of nursing knowledge in a selected area of interest. Assumed a full researcher role and has a funded program of research 2. Develop and coordinate funded research programs Kristhoff, 1.

Intellectual curiosity 2. Creative thinking 3. Critical thinking 4. Ability to relate study to a known theory 5. Patience and discipline to push the study through 6.

Intellectual honesty 7. Sense of humor Methodological Development 2. Disseminate Findings 4. Teaching of research was integrated in the nursing curriculum in the mid-sixties. In the Philippines today, nursing educators agreed that skill in research should be one of the core competencies of Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Evidence-based practice is the conscientious use of current best evidence of making clinical decisions about patient care Sacheet et.

Evidence-based practice evolves from the integration of the best research evidence with clinical expertise and patient needs and values Institute of Medicine, ; Sachett, et.

The Stetler Model of research utilization to promote evidence-based practice. The Iowa Model of evidence-based practice to promote quality care. Steps of individual EBP: 1. Framing an answerable clinical question 2.

Searching for relevant research-based evidence 3. Appraising and synthesizing the evidence 4. Integrating evidence with other factors 5. Assessing effectiveness Validity of study findings Clinical importance of findings Precision of estimates of effects Associated costs and risks Utility in a particular clinical situation Identify a problem from practice and turn it into a specific question. Find the best available evidence that relates to the specific question.

Critically appraise the evidence for its validity, usefulness and methodological rigor. A paradigm is a world view, a general perspective on the complexities of the world. Fundamental assumption of positivists is that there is a reality out there that can be studied and known. The independent variable relates to sitting the client in different positions, such as lying flat, semi-recumbent, lateral and upright positions.

This is the variable the researcher can manipulate to study its influence on the dependent variable. The dependent variable is the measurement of breathing. Qualitative research is used to describe information obtained in a non-numerical form, such as data obtained from interviews.

See Box 4. Studies that attempt to make qualitative research more humanistic, holistic and relevant to the lives of human beings. The major goal of this research is working in collaboration with participants in a manner that brings about desired change s. Studies that empower individuals involved in this research by attempting to confront unjust power structures within a specific context or society. The major goal of this research is the challenging of dominant constructions of reality and the societal structures that maintain the status quo and determine allocation of power and resources.

Studies in which the objective is to accurately portray characteristics of individuals, situations or groups and the frequency with which certain events or characteristics occur. The major goal of this research is to describe what is seen in order to detect phenomena that might be of interest in future research.

The major goal of this research is to explore what is seen in order to identify relationships among phenomena that might be of interest in future research. Systematic studies designed to establish facts and relationships concerning past events. The major goal of this research may be either a descriptive account of what occurred and the facts surrounding the event s , or a critical approach may be taken in which the researchers challenge the dominant interpretations of facts.

Studies in which human experience is investigated to generate deeper understanding of the phenomena of interest. The major goal of this research is the exploration of the numerous ways human beings experience the complex world in which they live. Qualitative researchers may wish to examine individual lives and their stories and behaviour, organisations and their functioning, or cultures and their interactions and social movement. As the study methodology embraces the examination of subjective phenomena, these findings are only considered to be representative of a particular person or group of people, and in a particular setting, and not reflective of other people or other settings Borbasi et al There are strengths in both quantitative and qualitative approaches.

The quantitative approach can support a theory or argue to disprove it, and can be very useful, for example, when hospitals or governments want to introduce policy changes. The qualitative approach, by contrast, has a human focus and allows researchers to know their subjects and collect information about attitudes and satisfaction levels that are vital to improve care provided by nurses. There are several steps in conducting either quantitative or qualitative research.

The research problem is refined through a process that proceeds from identifying a general idea of interest to defining a specific topic. A preliminary literature review reveals related factors that appear critical to the research topic. The significance of the research problem must be identified in terms of its potential contribution to clients, nurses and the medical community Beanland et al Choosing the topic of interest may develop from:.

The purpose of the study states the aims or goals that the investigator hopes to achieve with the research. It also suggests the way in which the researcher sought to study the problem. The overall purpose of conducting a review of the literature is to develop a strong knowledge base to carry out research and other consumer research activities in the educational and clinical practice settings.

It is a broad, comprehensive, in-depth, systematic and critical review of scholarly publications, unpublished scholarly print materials, audiovisual materials and personal communications Beanland et al The literature review provides a way of checking what has already been studied in relation to the proposed study.

It can also provide an understanding of the procedures, methods of analysis and variables that can influence the study see Box 4. To conduct a successful search for information about a particular subject, the researcher needs to define the topic of interest, select appropriate search resources and selectively review and evaluate the materials produced by a search Borbasi et al A search is conducted using indexes, abstracts and catalogues to find information about specific subjects.

Books tend to give standard accepted information and practices. They provide good baseline data on a subject. Journals, however, provide more current information than books. They report changing trends and practices. Several electronic indexes are used for nursing journals Box 4. Each index has a primary area of focus and advantages and limits.

Electronic databases operate with a special vocabulary. However, the computer helps the researcher to define the preferred terms to use in a search. It is important to make the search as precise as possible; if there are several key terms, they should be used. Ask for assistance from the librarian if there is difficulty finding information. Many professional information sources are also available on the internet, where there is access to a wide variety of databases, client and nursing education resources, as well as some nursing journals see Online Resources at the end of this chapter.

Melissa, Enrolled Nurse student. A hypothesis contains at least one independent and one dependent variable Independent variable A variable that causes a change in the dependent variable Inductive reasoning Logical system of thinking that begins with the component parts and builds them into a whole Informed consent An agreement by a research subject to participate voluntarily in a study after being fully informed about the study and the risks and benefits of participation Instrument Device or technique used to collect data in a research study, e.

Ask a focused question.