Overview of nursing research

Dr. C. B. BELLO
 What is research
• Research means different things to different
people:
• Research is a critical and exhaustive
investigation & experimentation that is aimed
at discovery of new facts & their correct
interpretation, the revision of accepted
conclusions, theories or laws, in the light of
newly discovered facts or the practical
application of such new revised conclusions.
 What is research contd
• Research is a systematic inquiry that uses
disciplined methods to solve problems. The
main aim of research is to develop, refine and
expand knowledge

• Research is a systematic, deliberate process of

investigation designed to develop or
contribute to generalizable knowledge
 What is research contd
• Scientific and deliberate planned effort to
collect information or gather data
• “Research is the systematic approach to
obtaining and confirming new and reliable
knowledge”
– Systematic and orderly (following a series of
steps)
– Purpose is new knowledge, which must be
reliable.
 Brief history of nursing research
• Despite a tradition dating back to Florence Nightingale,
nursing research emerged as a systematic study and
assessment of nursing issues only in the last 60 years
• Nursing education's shift from hospital training schools
to academic settings made possible, even mandated,
the development of nursing as a scientific discipline
• Through research, nursing challenged its image as a
tradition-bound, hands-on vocation and built a
distinctive base of nursing knowledge
Brief history of nursing research contd
• Nursing research began when Florence
Nightingale accumulated and analyzed
complex information about conditions during
the Crimean War (1854-56)
• Although her work illustrated the power of
statistics to reform nursing, her insistence that
nurses undertake systematic inquiry was
ignored by late 19th century training school
administrators
Brief history of nursing research contd
• The rapid expansion of hospital training schools
revealed an alarming lack of standards and practices
• By the early 1900s some nursing leaders began
investigating workplace conditions and the
administration of nursing services and education
• Over the next 50 years, national nursing organizations
sponsored important surveys, studies, and reports
that documented the need for change and
demonstrated the value of nursing research
Brief history of nursing research contd
• In the 1950s, under Dean Florence M. Gipe, the
University of Maryland School of Nursing took its
first steps toward becoming a research institution
• Today, research conducted by School of Nursing
faculty and doctoral students helps combat serious
health problems in the community, leads to the
development of new products and interventions
for patients, influences health care policy, and
strengthens the professional status of nursing
 Start of research studies
• Other disciplines
– Sociology
– Psychology
– Education
• Nurses and advanced preparation
 Nursing research
• Educators
• Focus on students
• Address the educational process
 Changes in research
• 1927 — Interest starts in nursing procedures
• 1950s — Nursing care studies
• 1970s — Practice related issues
 Nursing research priority
• Our scientific knowledge base for practice
• Health promotion and preventive health
practices
• All age groups—birth to death
• Life satisfaction for individuals and groups
• Cost effectiveness in health care
 What is nursing research
• Nursing research is the systematic investigation of
phenomena (situations or circumstances) related to
improving nursing care.

• It is a sequence of activities which when followed answers

questions, provides solutions to specific nursing problems.

• Nursing research helps in developing areas of knowledge

specific to nursing (health problem, human behaviour
etc.).
 What is nursing research
• Is a systematic inquiry designed to develop
trustworthy evidence about issues of
importance to nursing profession, including
nursing practice, education, administration and
informatics

• Burns and Grove (2005) defined nursing

research as a scientific process that validates
and refines existing knowledge and generates
new knowledge that directly and indirectly
influences clinical nursing practice
 What is nursing research contd
It includes studies concerning:
- nursing practice;
-nursing education;
- nursing administration, and
- nurses themselves
• Clinical nursing research: is research designed to
guide nursing practice and to improve patient health
and quality of life.
• It indicates nursing research that involves clients or
studies that have the potential for affecting the care
of clients.
What is clinical nursing research
• Consists of patient symptom management
• Addresses behavioral interventions
• Targets prevention and health promotion
Functions/Purposes of research in nursing

• Verify or disprove, confirm or reject, modify and re-

assert existing theories and establish new facts
• Find answers to problems
• Explore and explain phenomena
• Predict phenomena/circumstances
• Control the occurrence of phenomena
• Provides practical clues, to undertake measures that
lead to social improvement, social change & social
progress
Importance of research in nursing
• Nursing is a practice profession and as such
must continue to discover and develop the
body of knowledge that can be unique to
nursing and fundamental to its practice.
 Importance of research in nursing
Research is important to nursing in the following
ways:
1. For the improvement of patient care, through
development of new products, procedures and
methods of care
2. It makes practice have greater impact
3. It could promote better administrative methods
and more effective use for staff of all cadres
4. Provides scientific knowledge that could
enhance professional status
 Importance of research in nursing contd

4. Research contributes to better teaching

methods, better curriculum, and enhances
nursing education
5. Research promotes evidence-based nursing
practice, that is, nurses make clinical
decisions based on the best research
evidence, their clinical expertise, and the health
care preferences of their patients/clients
 Importance of research in nursing contd

6. Research encourages scientific accountability in

nursing practice, enables nurses to evaluate the
efficacy of their care, and modify/ abandon
practices shown to have no effect on the health
of patients.

7. Nursing professionalism is also enhanced

through research as more nurses with wide range
of knowledge and intellectual ability add to the
professional ideals.
Importance of research in nursing
contd
8. Continuing research and exposing nursing
students to clinical settings where research is
conducted, nurse educators help the students to
become aware of the changing nature of
knowledge and the importance of life-long
learning and inquiry.
9. Document the cost effectiveness of nursing
care
 Guidelines for assessing researchability of
topics/titles
The following guidelines should be used to
determine whether a problem is suitable for
research. These include:
• a. Frequency of occurrence of the problem - If the
nature of the problem is such that it rarely occurs,
then research is not advisable for that problem.
• b. The degree of discomfort caused by the
problem – The problem may be causing harm to
people, or even may have led to harm or risk to
life, in which case it is expedient to believe that
research could lead to a solution.
Guidelines for assessing researchability of
topics/titles contd
• c. Feasibility (is it possible, is it
practicable?)
This is based on
 the availability of methodology and
materials
length of time needed for study
 possible damage to
life/subjects/participants
Guidelines for assessing researchability of
topics/titles contd
• d. Amount of resources affected by the
problem a consideration is given to the such
problem when financial or material resources
are lost or jeopardized because of the
problem.

• e. Needs the solution will meet – Consider if

the findings of the research will meet any
need. Can the study yield useful results?
Guidelines for assessing researchability of
topics/titles
• f. Genuine interest of the researcher- Interest
spurs people on for research; the researcher
must be fully interested for any meaningful
engagement in the research.
• Without interest the commitment in the
research would be poor, and of non effect.
 Criteria for selecting a research topic
• Relevance-priority, (widespread, severity, who
is affected)
• Avoidance of duplication
• Urgency of data needed
• Political acceptability of the study
• Feasibility of the study
• Applicability of the study
• Ethical acceptability (cultural sensitivity)
 Goals for conducting research
• Promote Evidence-based nursing practice
• Credibility of the nursing profession
• Accountability for nursing practice
• Cost effectiveness of nursing care
 Credibility of nursing profession
• Research helps determine
– What nurses do
– How nurses do it
– How knowledge is gathered
– What makes nurses different
Accountability of nursing practice
• Increase independence ® more
accountability
• Promote actions based on sound rationale
• Gain knowledge via scientific research
• Foster research article critiques
• Use findings in everyday practice
 Roles of nurses in research
The following are the different roles of the
nurse:
 Principal investigator
 Member of a research team
 Identifier of researchable problems
 Evaluator of research findings
 User of research findings
 Patient/client advocate during studies
 Subject/participant in studies
 As a member of research team
• Data collection for study
• Administer experimental interventions
• Enlist bedside nurses and health care leaders
• Makes impact on health care outcomes
 User of research findings
• Practice based on tradition is no longer
acceptable in nursing
• Practice must be based on Evidence-based
research (EBR) to ensure effectiveness
• Research findings change practice and results
in improved client care
 Patient/client advocate
• Nurses act in both roles
• Ethical considerations
• Study explanations
• Participant support
 Qualities of a good researcher
• R- research oriented
• E- efficient
• S- scientific
• E- effective
• A- active
• R- resourceful
• C- creative
• H- honest
• E- economical
• R- reliable
 Nurses and the research process
• Educate public that nurses do research
• Be willing in participating in research
• Report research findings locally and nationally
• Present information on clinical practice issues
 Research dissemination
• Conferences
• Research journals
• Journals that practicing nurses read
Nursing research and nursing knowledge

• Ask the right questions

• Search for evidence to support/answer
questions
• Implement changes to improve practice
• Evaluate results of the changes
• Add to our unique body of nursing knowledge
Funding opportunities for nursing research

• Federal Government
• National Institute for Nursing Research
• Private Foundation
• Organizations and Corporations
• Professional Organizations
– Sigma Theta Tau
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