Purdue University
School of Nursing
Doctor of Nursing Practice
PRACTICE INQUIRY
PROJECT GUIDELINES
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Table of Contents
Introduction………………………………………..…………….……………………….3
The DNP Practice Inquiry Project: Overview……………………………………………4
Development of the DNP Practice Inquiry Project………………………………….…...4
Disseminating the Results………………………………………………………………..7
Graduation Deadlines………………………………………………………………….....9
Appendix A: Institutional Review Board Approval……………………………………10
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Introduction
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Degree Plans of Study must include a Practice Inquiry
Project. The Practice Inquiry Project is a faculty-guided scholarly experience that provides
evidence of critical thinking and the ability to apply the principles of evidence-based practice
through problem identification, project development, implementation, and evaluation of a
clinical problem.
The Purpose of the Practice Inquiry Project in the Doctor of Nursing Practice Curriculum
The DNP graduate is expected to evaluate, implement and translate best research evidence into
practice. As part of this process, DNP graduates are expected to disseminate and integrate new
knowledge, participate as members of interprofessional research teams, and conduct evidencebased research projects that lead to improvement in direct and/or indirect practice.
As an advanced practice nurse with a DNP degree, you will be able to:
1. Evaluate systems responses to health and illness as a basis for the promotion, restoration
and maintenance of health and functional abilities and the prevention of illness
2. Integrate advanced knowledge of nursing theories, related sciences and humanities, and
methods of inquiry in the care diverse populations
3. Design quality, cost effective nursing interventions based on the knowledge of
interrelationships among person, environment, health and nursing
4. Measure outcomes to evaluate nursing and health systems in diverse settings
5. Demonstrate role competence as a Doctor of Nursing Practice in providing care to
individuals and families including rural and vulnerable populations
6. Translate research to support evidenced-based practice for diverse populations
7. Initiate changes in the healthcare system through the implementation and evaluation of
health policies that strengthen the healthcare delivery system
8. Apply systems concepts to prevent and solve complex healthcare delivery problems
Students will be expected to follow the AACN Essentials for “Clinical Scholarship and
Analytical Methods for Evidence-Based Practice” as outlined in the DNP Essentials,
http://www.aacn.nche.edu/publications/position/DNPEssentials.pdf.
Each student will have a committee that guides his/her project. The committee will consist of a
committee chairperson and two committee members. All members of the committee must have
Graduate Appointment Status. One committee member may be external to the School of Nursing
(SON), but must be an expert in an area of inquiry relevant to the project. Refer to the
University graduate handbook, the SON graduate handbook, and the SON website for
qualifications for committee membership. Due to the necessary synthesis that is required, a
minimum of two semesters are required for completion of the Practice Inquiry Project.
Many students find they need a third semester to complete the project.
The DNP Practice Inquiry Project: Overview
The Practice Inquiry Project evaluates healthcare practices and policies relevant to nursing
practice. The final project consists of 5 components that provide evidence that the DNP student
can critically synthesize relevant research findings to develop, implement and evaluate an aspect
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of health care delivery. The student will conduct an oral presentation and discussion at the
completion of his/her project.
Project Components:
1: Overview of the problem, and significance
2: Review of significant literature to support the project
3: Methodology/intervention
4: Results, discussion, summary, conclusion and implications for healthcare systems,
policy, and economics.
5: Data-based manuscript
Students must complete the appropriate Collaborative Institutional Review Board (IRB) Training
Initiative component (CITI) prior to data collection Go to Purdue Office of the Vice President for
Research website, https://www.irb.purdue.edu/index.php, to learn about the human research
protection program and go to this website, https://www.irb.purdue.edu/edu.php, to learn about
CITI training.
The scholarly manuscript must be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal. The student is
encouraged to utilize previous DNP course work to build the manuscript. The manuscript must
be data-based, involving analysis of new or existing data. It is not a requirement that the
manuscript be accepted for publication. Manuscript submission occurs with help from the
committee chair or members, who should be listed as co-authors. (See author guidelines) Prior to
submission of a manuscript, the student must receive written approval from the chair of the
committee, using the DNP Manuscript Submission form and the DNP Authorship Guidelines
form. MANUSCRIPTS SUBMITTED WITHOUT CHAIR APPROVAL WILL NOT BE
CONSIDERED PART OF THE DNP PRACTICE INQUIRY PROJECT.
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Development of the DNP Practice Inquiry Project
Review the Project timeline schedule (appropriate for your anticipated graduation date),
located on the SON website under policies, concerning deadline dates to be met for
graduation. These guidelines are consistent with the Guidelines set by the Graduate School.
Identify an area of interest and work with a faculty mentor to identify a faculty member with
expertise in this area who agrees to serve as the chair of your committee (consult the website for
faculty who are able to serve as chair). It is advised that you select a chair early in your program.
Your chair can assist you in directing your coursework activities, which can be useful in
completing your project.
a) Clarify the availability of your faculty chair over the period that you will be working
on the project (whether available during the summer, etc.).
b) Develop a timetable and identify the semesters that you will register for the cognate
residency and DNP project hours.
Identifying a Topic for the DNP Practice Inquiry Project
The earlier you identify the topic of your Practice Inquiry Project, the easier it will be for you to
complete your work in a timely manner. In addition, your work can build throughout the
program leading to the synthesis of the project. You should identify a chair and committee
members after you complete the Evidence-Based Practice course.
There are many different ways to identify a project topic and committee chair:
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You may discuss project ideas with your faculty mentor and find whether your faculty
mentor is willing to work with you on a project arising from your clinical interests.
Your faculty mentor may recommend a particular faculty member who shares your
interests.
Your project topic should be closely aligned with the SON’s faculty expertise.
You can review the lists of faculty research interests found on the School website,
http://www.purdue.edu/hhs/nur/directory/faculty/index.html .
The DNP Practice Inquiry Project Proposal
The DNP proposal presents a written version of your project. The length of proposals can vary.
Most students need to revise their proposal several times to achieve clarity, brevity, and
completeness. Projects and formats may vary. In general, the format for the proposal includes:
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Component 1: Nature of Project and Problem Identification
a. Introductory materials with an abbreviated literature review to substantiate the choice
of area of inquiry.
b. Identify significance of problem. Why is this an important area for a clinical project?
c. Description of “the problem,” which is an expanded statement of the purpose.
Component 2: Review of Literature (give more detail and cite more references than in
the Introductory portion) and Theoretical Framework.
Component 3: Describe the clinical research question(s) and methodology/intervention
you plan to complete for this project.
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Component 4: Identify what system you will be effecting and how you will evaluate the
economic and health policy component.
Basic writing guidelines:
 Proposals must be succinct, direct, and free of jargon.
 Proposals are written in the future tense using current approved standard guidelines as
determined in collaboration with the chair (e.g., MLA, APA, etc.).
 Project idea and proposal are revised with input from your committee chair. In
consultation with your committee chair, identify two other potential committee members.
A request to serve on your committee, a brief summary of the project concept, and the
proposal should be sent to the potential committee members.
Obtaining Approval for Your DNP Project Proposal
Once you have a committee chair and 2 committee members, you will need to schedule a
meeting with the committee to review, discuss, and ultimately approve the project proposal.
Provide committee members with several possible dates for the meeting and plan at least one
hour for this first meeting. It is wise to schedule this meeting as early as possible. All students
have the same deadline dates and committee members are usually on several committees. Each
committee member should have the most recent copy of the proposal at least 2 weeks prior to
the scheduled meeting. The graduate secretary can help you to reserve a room for the meeting.
Remember to inform your committee members of the location.
Prior to the meeting, you should prepare a 5-10 minute presentation of the proposal. This should
include what you plan to do and why. Usually, the committee Chair begins the meeting by asking
you to briefly describe your research question and plan. Topics of discussion will include the
merits of your question; the strengths and weaknesses of your intervention; any realistic and
feasible changes for improvement; and identified limitations of the proposal that cannot be
reasonably overcome. Ethical and privacy concerns; the need for appropriate approvals; and
clearances which include IRB and/or Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA)
approvals are included in the discussion. The student is responsible for bringing the Graduate
Advisory Committee Report Form that requires faculty signatures to the committee meeting.
This form can be downloaded from the SON website.
The following should be very clear at the end of the meeting:
- Changes (if any) that are required
- The process for approving the proposal if changes are needed
- The plan for the development of forms required for IRB/HIPAA approval and the time
frame for initiation of the project following IRB and/or HIPAA approval
Writing the Practice Inquiry Project
In developing the schedule for your project, allow adequate time for revisions. This is an
iterative process, and it is likely that your Practice Inquiry Project will need multiple revisions.
This entire process requires a tremendous amount of time on your part and from committee
members. Therefore, committee members need a reasonable amount of time to review the draft
before each committee meeting; a minimum of 2 weeks is recommended.
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Remember that the timely completion of your project is YOUR responsibility. Stay in
touch with your committee and be persistent in completing the project.
The following strategies can help you in writing the project:
 Always review what you have written, incorporating recommendations from your chair
or committee.
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To prevent being overwhelmed by the writing process, it is recommended that you divide
your written project into smaller parts and focus on only one part at a time. For example,
describing the demographic characteristics of your sample and making a summary table
is a task you could complete in a day.
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Some students find the discussion a challenging portion of the project. A strategy help in
writing the discussion is to consider what you found, why it is important, what it means
in terms of existing research, and what are the implications for clinical practice and other
similar implementations. Finally, the limitations of your findings should be addressed.
Consultation with your chair is especially helpful during this phase of the project. You
may also wish to discuss this section with your peers.
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The final report section describes the findings and the conclusions. The tense found in the
proposal is changed from future (what is the plan) to past (what was done). Any deviation
from the proposal should be noted and explained in this section.
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In consultation with your committee chair, submit completed sections for review to your
committee and schedule a meeting to discuss it. Hold the committee meeting; make any
requested revisions; meet again if necessary. The refinement of the project and the
written components is iterative, and it is expected that multiple meetings,
recommendations, re-writes are part of the process.
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Before submitting your manuscript for publication, review the preferred journals for style
and format requirements.
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It takes a minimum of three semesters to complete all of the components of your project.
Please remember to have your committee members complete and sign the Graduate
Advisory Committee Report Form after each committee meeting.
Plan of Study:
 Prior to starting your final DNP Practice Inquiry Residency, your Plan of Study
should be submitted for approved by your committee chair and the Graduate
School. The absolute latest time for this approval is prior to the beginning of the semester
that you intend to graduate. Be sure to submit a Plan of Study before the deadline.
Work closely with the graduate secretary to ensure that this form is completed correctly.
Identify the date that the final project needs to be submitted in order to meet graduation
deadlines. To access Purdue deadlines, see:
http://www.gradschool.purdue.edu/calendar/calendar.cfm?type=Deadlines.
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Dissemination of your DNP Practice Inquiry Project
In collaboration with your project committee chair, examine opportunities to disseminate project
findings via a poster or podium presentation at a local, regional, or national meeting. The
Midwest Nursing Research Society annual meeting is one venue for consideration. Professional
nursing organizations may also sponsor an opportunity for presentations and/or poster sessions.
Attending professional meetings is a good way to disseminate findings with clinical relevance. It
is also a good way to network with others who have similar interests and to establish yourself in
the field of nursing as an individual with an area of expertise.
You should also share your results with the clinical site and/or subjects who are interested, if this
is relevant for your project. For some projects, it is appropriate to share results with participants,
and if you have offered to do this, it is important to do so promptly.
It is required that your completed manuscript be of publishable quality. It is important to plan
with your committee chair and committee members to target appropriate journals. Look in the
journal you are targeting for the Guidelines for Authors to get specific requirements as to citation
formatting, length and format.
You improve your chances of successful publication by having your manuscripts reviewed by
others. Reviewers can be clinical experts on your topic. You may also choose to have the
manuscript reviewed for clarity by someone who is not an expert in the topic. The process of
peer review is an important part of scholarship and one you will want to use whether you are
preparing reports at your work site or writing for publication. You will also work with your chair
to review your manuscripts, abstracts, and publications.
It is expected that the manuscript will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for publication.
However, it is not a requirement for your degree that the manuscript be accepted for publication.
Manuscript submission occurs with additional help from the committee chair or members, who
should be listed as co-authors (see DNP Authorship Guidelines). Prior to submission of a
manuscript, the chair of the committee must give written approval, using the DNP Manuscript
Submission Form.
MANUSCRIPTS SUBMITTED WITHOUT CHAIR APPROVAL WILL NOT BE
CONSIDERED PART OF THE DNP PRACTICE INQUIRY PROJECT.
Presentation of the DNP Practice Inquiry Project/ Oral Summary
You must have written approval from your committee that you are ready to schedule a date and
time for the presentation of the DNP Practice Inquiry Project. Complete the form titled “Request
for DNP Final Proposal Presentation” and have your committee chair sign. This form is
submitted to the graduate secretary. Once you establish a 2 hour time slot that works for the
entire committee, please contact the graduate secretary to place the presentation on the School of
Nursing Calendar and schedule a room.
 Send a draft of your PowerPoint slides for the presentation to your committee two weeks
prior to the presentation for feedback. Make the suggested changes and send your committee
the slides for final approval. It is suggested that you prepare no more than 1 slide per minute
for your presentation of about 45-60 minutes.
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You will begin with an oral summary of your project. Handouts, overhead transparencies, or
PowerPoint presentations may be appropriate (you can discuss this with your chair before the
meeting).
Following your presentation, committee members will offer their comments. They may also
ask you questions regarding the purpose and overall implications and limitations of your
project. You may also discuss publication and dissemination of your findings.
Following your presentation, the committee members will privately discuss the project and a
consensus vote will be taken. The committee has three options: they can accept the project as
is; they can request minor revisions and proceed with approval of the project pending these
changes; or they may request specific changes and a review of these changes before the
project is officially approved. Generally, the second option is used only for minor or
straightforward changes such as table formatting, grammatical corrections, and the like. If
substantive changes are necessary, the committee will determine whether these changes are
extensive enough to require another meeting. If not, each member may request to see the
revised version but not meet, or they may delegate one person, usually the chair, to oversee
the revisions. When all the requested changes have been made, the members will sign the
approval form.
Final Process
When the final project is complete and your committee members have signed the GS Form 20
found on the SON website under the Forms tab, the Graduate Secretary will take the completed
project along with the GS Form 20 to the Head of the School of Nursing for signature.
Submit your completed project electronically, one copy to each of your committee
members, one copy to the School of Nursing, where it will be kept in the Center for Nursing
History, Ethics, Human Rights, and Innovations. You should also keep a copy for yourself.
Graduation Deadlines
There are two deadlines that you must consider when preparing for graduation: the deadline for
submitting your “GS Form 20” and the deadline for submitting your completed, approved
project. For specific graduation deadline information, see
https://www.purdue.edu/gradschool/about/calendar/deadlines.cfm
To officially graduate in a particular semester, you must let the Graduate Secretary know prior
to the beginning of the semester in order to declare candidacy for degree.
The absolute deadline for submitting your completed, approved project is posted on the
Graduate School website.
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Appendix A:
Institutional Review Board Approval
Statement of Purdue University Policy: Human Subjects and Ethical Considerations:
“To ensure the safe and ethical conduct of research involving human subjects at Purdue
University, all Purdue faculty, staff, and students who wish to participate in the conduct of
research involving human subjects must be familiar with and understand the underlying ethical
principles, federal and state laws and regulations, and policies and procedures that compose
Purdue University’s Human Research Participants Protection Program (HRPPP). To document
the necessary familiarity and understanding, all Purdue faculty, staff, and students who wish to
conduct research involving human subjects must be certified as having completed appropriate
formal training and education before an application and protocol in which they are named will be
approved or determined exempt by one of Purdue University’s Institutional Review Boards, or
one of their designated subcommittees.”
This education policy applies to all Purdue University principal investigators, extension educator
investigators, and key project personnel, including graduate students, as well as undergraduate
students, non-Purdue research personnel, and consultants who interact with subjects who
participate in research involving human subjects that is reviewed by a Purdue University
Institutional Review Board or one of its designated subcommittees or by another institution’s
IRB under an inter-institutional cooperative agreement with Purdue University regardless of the
location where the research is to be conducted and regardless of the source of funds supporting
the research.”
The IRB office is located in YONG, Room 1032. The IRB forms are found at the website of
http://www.purdue.edu/research/vpr/rschadmin/rschoversight/humans/forms.php
The procedure for submitting IRB forms is:
 Discuss your study, the type of review it requires, and any special ethical considerations with
your chair
 Fill out the forms and have your chair approve and sign them
 Take the signed forms to the IRB office
When you submit forms to the IRB, we recommend that you hand-carry them to the office.
You cannot proceed with your data collection until you have written notification of IRB
approval. A photocopy of your IRB approval letter and the approved consent form should
be kept by both the student and the committee chair.
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If IRB approval is needed, complete the appropriate IRB forms and submit to your
project committee chair.
o NOTE: THE COMMITTEE CHAIR MUST BE THE PRINCIPAL
INVESTIGATOR FOR ALL RESEARCH CONDUCTED THROUGH THE
UNIVERSITY. Your committee chair will work with you to ensure that the
forms are correct and submitted to the IRB. Do not proceed with any type of
recruitment, data collection, or analysis until you receive written approval from
the Human Subjects committee/IRB. You may also need to obtain IRB approval
from the healthcare facility where you are conducting research.
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After you have received IRB approval, you may begin to implement your project. You must
work with your committee and healthcare facility throughout all stages of the
implementation. While implementing your project you should be revising the first two
components of your written project. You can also be drafting your manuscript and
incorporating the methods that you are using. Submit the completed sections for review by
your committee chair according to an agreed upon schedule.
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