Professor Lisa High
University of Windsor

Introduction to Nursing Research
Welcome to the world of “NURSING RESEARCH”
 Learning a unique new language
 Incorporating new rules
 Expansion of your perceptions and methods of reasoning

Nursing Research
 Hallmark of any profession
 Search for new and unique body of knowledge
 Who was the first researcher is nursing?
 What did the research involve?
 How does the CNO fit into the practice of research?

Definition of Nursing Research
Root meaning :
(1)
(2)
More specifically:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

What is the significance of Nursing
Research
 Primary goal – to develop a scientific knowledge base for nursing practice.
Significance/Value:
(1) Description
(2) Explanation
(3) Prediction
(4) Control

What Research Contributes To
 To acquire knowledge
 To build a theory base
 To validate reality
 To test reality
 A way of understanding the empirical world
 To test/confirm/refute a premise

Importance of Nursing Research
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Continued improvement in patient care
Evidence-based practice
Reinforcement of nursing as a profession
Today in this “cost containment” healthcare system to document relevance and effectiveness of nursing practice
To understand the varied dimensions of the profession
To describe the characteristics of specific nursing situations
To explain phenomena
To initiate activities to promote desired patient outcomes

What is the Nurses Role?
 Every nurse is responsible (CNO Practice Standards)
 What is “ research utilization ”?

Nursing Research: Past, Present and
Future
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Florence Nightingale – Notes on Nursing (1859)
1900 and 1940’s – focused on problems confronting nurses most studies on nursing education
1950’s – established the Nursing Research Journal in US
To study clinical topics/clinical nursing problems
Canadian Journal of Nursing Research – 1969
1970’s – need additional communication outlets – additional journals – Advanced Nursing Science
- Research in Nursing & Health
- Western Journal of Nursing Research
- Journal of Advanced Nursing

Nursing Research: Past, Present and
Future
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1970’s cont’d – shift to teaching, administration and nurses themselves to the improvement of patient care
1980’s –
1 st review of the Annual Review of Nursing Research
Federal funding – Canada - National Health Research
Dept.
- US – National Center for Nursing Research
- new journal – Applied Nursing Research
- McMaster – clinical learning strategy developed –
EBM

Nursing Research: Past, Present and
Future
 1990’s –
National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)
Canadian Health Services Research Foundation
(CHSRF)
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
- several more journals were introduced

Future Directions for Nursing
Research
 Increased focus on outcomes research
 Promotion of evidence-based practice
 Development of a stronger knowledge base through multiple confirmatory strategies = REPLICATION
 Greater emphasis on “Integrative Reviews”
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Involvement of “Transdisciplinary research”
 Outcomes research (performance indicator, benchmarking)
 Emphasis on the visibility of nursing research
 Expanded dissemination of research findings

Sources of Knowledge - Ways of
Acquiring Knowledge
 Eight Methods:
- tradition
- authority
- borrowing
- trial and error
- assemble information
- personal/clinical experience
- intuition
- logical reasoning
- disciplined research

Reasoning – What is it?
 Definition –
 Stevens (1994) identified 4 patterns of reasoning:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

Two Types of Logical Reasoning
(1) DEDUCTIVE -
(2) INDUCTIVE -

Thinking in Nursing
Nursing thought flows along a continuum of both –
(a) Concrete thinking –
(a) Abstract thinking –

Thinking in Nursing
3 major abstract thought process:
(1)
(2)
(3)

Paradigms
What is a paradigm :

Paradigms for Nursing Research
 QUALITATIVE:
 QUANTITATVE:

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Paradigms
QUANTITATIVE
Positivist or post-positivist paradigm
Assumption: reality can be studied and known
Hard science
Focus: usually concise
Reductionistic
Objective
Reasoning: logistic, deductive
Basis of knowing: cause & effect relationships
Tests theory
Control
Instruments
Basic element of analysis: numbers
Statistical analysis
Generalization
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QUALITATIVE
Naturalistic paradigm
Soft science
Focus: usually broad
Holistic
Subjective
Reasoning: dialectic, inductive
Basis of knowing: meaning, discovery
Shared interpretation
Communication and observation
Basic element of analysis: words
Individual interpretations
Uniqueness

Paradigms & Methods
 “ research method
” – techniques used to structure a study, to gather and to analyze information relevant to a research question
 Quantitative and qualitative researchers use different approaches – to answer different questions

Scientific Method & Quantitative
Research
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Scientific Method:
General set of orderly, discipline procedures
Empirical evidence
Systematic fashion of data collection
A series of steps used by the researcher via of a prespecified plan of action
Use mechanisms to control the study
Minimizes biases
Precision and validity are maximized

Scientific Method & Qualitative Research
Scientific Method:
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Human complexity/depth of humans
Idea of truth is a composite of realities
Focus on the dynamic, holistic and individual aspects
Flexible, evolving procedures
Findings emerge over the course of the research
Analysis progresses concurrently
Researcher sifts through information, gain insight, new questions emerge

Paradigms Common Features
 Ultimate goals – knowledge
 External evidence – gather and analyze evidence empirically
 Reliance on human cooperation – human study participants
 Ethical constraints – research that involves human beings is guided by ethical principles
 Fallibility of disciplined research – all studies in either paradigm have limitations, involves trade offs and decisions

Purpose of Qualitative &Quantitative
Research
Specific Purposes:
(1) Identification
(2) Description
(3) Exploration
(4) Explanation
(5) Prediction and Control

Basic & Applied Research
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Basic research : undertaken to accumulate information, extending the base of knowledge in a discipline – why?
Pure science (ie. Bench scientists/natural science)
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Applied research : focuses on finding an immediate solution to an existing problem – what is the goal?
Clinical science (ie. Practice setting, practice setting)

Understanding the “ Research Process ”
Quantitative Qualitative
Experimental Grounded Theory
Non-experimental
Phenomenology
Ethnography

Understanding the “ Research Process ”
 Major Steps – Quantitative :
Phase I – Conceptual Phase
Phase II - Design and Planning Phase
Phase III - Empirical Phase
Phase IV - Analytic Phase
Phase V - Dissemination Phase

Understanding the “ Research Process ”
 Major Steps – Qualitative :
Identifying a research problem
Doing a literature review
Selecting and gaining entry into research sites
Designing qualitative studies
Addressing ethical issues