Research in nursing: An

Overview

BY

DR. A.H IBRAHIM PhD, FRHD

DEPARTMENT OF NURSING SCIENCES,
Bayero University Kano.
09/01/2025 1
 INTRODUCTION
Research is an important tool for advancing knowledge, promoting progress and for enabling
man to relate more effectively to his environment so as to accomplish his purposes and
resolve his conflicts.

The word research means “to search again” or “to examine carefully”.,
 Research is systematic inquiry, or study to validate and refine existing knowledge and
develop new knowledge.
 The ultimate goal of research is the development of a body of knowledge for a discipline or
profession such as Nursing

The development of nursing research has been very slow and this is not unrelated to the
growth of nursing and nursing education. Nurses should regularly conduct researches into
their daily practices for new discoveries and changes and such researches should be published
and used to improve the standard of nursing care and ultimately the development of nursing
profession.
09/01/2025 2
GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE
CONCEPT OF RESEARCH IN
NURSING
 DEFINITION
 Research is a systematic effort to get new knowledge.
-Redman and Mory
 Research is an endeavor to discover, develop and refine
knowledge.
-Rummel F.J

 Polit and Beck(2011) defined NR as the systematic

enquiry designed to develop trust worthy evidence about
issues of importance to Nursing profession including
nursing practice, education & informatics.
 TYPES OF RESEARCH
Research has been classified in several ways.
Below are some of the common ones:
1. Based on Purpose:
• PURE/BASIC (Knowledge sake) and APPLIED
(to solve general/specific problems)
2. Based on methods:
– Quantitative/qualitative

09/01/2025 5
 PURPOSES OF RESEARCH IN NURSING

General purposes: Specific purposes:

1. To satisfy curiosity or “hunches”
• Description 2. To solve identified problems
• Exploration 3. As a partial fulfillment for award
of degrees and certificates
• Explanation 4. For professional advancement
5. As part of a professional’s job
• Prediction and control description
• Others: 6. To provide scientific bases for
practice
• Professionalism 7. To test existing theories,
• Accountability advance new ones, etc

• Social Relevance
09/01/2025 6
 IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH IN
NURSING
Research in nursing is very necessary in order to
achieve the following:

1.Formulation/Development of nursing theories:

Nursing theories are required for the provision of
quality nursing education and practice
2.Development of a distinct body of knowledge
unique to nursing: Research in nursing is necessary
in order to develop a body of knowledge unique to
various aspects of nursing.
3. Improvement in nursing education and practice:
The society is undergoing dramatic changes and
09/01/2025 7
4. To satisfy one of the important criteria for
professionalism: Active research by members is an
important quality of a profession.
5. To promote social relevance of Nursing
6. Provides scientific bases for nursing care: To be
scientific as a profession, nursing must continuously
provide scientific explanations to its activities. This can be
achieved through researches
7. To define the paramaters and scope of nursing practice:
Realising that nurses are just one group among other
health care professionals, research will broaden and define
our specific roles in the team
8. To show what the nurses are doing wrong so that we
can make corrections and improve on our services to our
clients which will improve our image and enhance our
CHARACTERISTICS OF NURSING RESEARCH
Nursing research must possess certain characteristics. Following are
some of them:
1. Objective
2. Reliability and validity
3. Accuracy
4. Verifiability
5. Precision
6. Scientific/systematic and logical approach
7. Generalizability
8. Replicable
9. Accurate observation and description
10. Originality
11. Unhurried and courageous activity/scholarship
12. Recorded carefully and communicated adequately
 SCOPE OF NURSING RESEARCH
Nursing research covers the following areas of
Nursing:
1. Nursing education
2. Nursing administration
3. Nursing practice
ETHICAL PRINCIPLES IN NURSING RESEARCH
Nursing studies usually involve the use of human beings as respondents or
experimental subjects. For a study to be meaningful and serve its purpose, it must
be of strong ethical backing and below are the principles every nurse researcher
must consider in the conceptualization and conduct of every Nursing research.
i. Beneficence
a. The Right to Freedom from Harm and Discomfort (non-maleficence)
b. The Right to Protection from Exploitation
ii. Respect for Human Dignity
a. The Right to Self-Determination
b. The Right to Full Disclosure
iii. Justice
a. This includes participants’ right to fair treatment and their right to privacy.
b. The Right to Fair Treatment
c. The Right to Privacy
Research misconduct
Is fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing, conducting,
or reviewing research, or in reporting results. Research misconduct
does not include honest errors.
– Fabrication involves making up data or study results and
reporting them.
– Falsification involves manipulating research materials,
equipment, or processes; it also involves changing or omitting
data, or distorting results such that the research is not
accurately represented in reports.
– Plagiarism involves the appropriation of someone’s ideas,
results, or words without giving due credit, including
information obtained through the confidential review of
research proposals or manuscripts.
 THE RESEARCH PROCESS

o The research process is the series of steps followed

to conduct a scientific study.
o It is the various stages of a research, starting from
problem identification to communicating the results
of the study to an audience
o There are various approaches in classifying these
stages. Below is one of the most commonly used in
Nursing:

09/01/2025 13
CONCEPTUAL PHASE
• 1. Formulating and Delimiting the Problem
• 2. Reviewing the Literature
• 3. Developing a Theoretical Framework
• 4. Identifying the Research Variables
• 5. Formulating Hypotheses

DESIGN AND PLANNING PHASE

• 6. Selecting a Research Design
• 7. Specifying the Population
• 8. Operationalizing the Variables
• 9. Conducting the Pilot Study/Making Revisions
09/01/2025 14
EMPIRICAL PHASE
• 10. Selecting the Sample
• 11. Collecting the Data
• 12. Organizing Data for Analysis

ANALYTIC PHASE
• 13. Analyzing the Data
• 14. Interpreting the Results

DISSEMINATION PHASE
• 15. Communicating Results
09/01/2025 15
CONCEPTUALIZATION OF
RESEARCH PROBLEM
While research is essential in ensuring
growth of an individual and that of a
profession as it always seeks to perfect
and polish the existing practices and body
of knowledge, the process starts with the
conceptualization/selection of an
appropriate research problem.
Conceptualizing a research problem is the first
step in every research study.
CONCEPTUALIZING A RESEARCH PROBLEM CONT.
• A problem is defined as “an irritation that
stimulates interest and prompts investigation or
proposition in which something has to be done.”
• Area of concern in which there is a gap in
knowledge needed for practice
• A research problem refers to an area of concern,
condition to be improved, a difficulty to be
eliminated; or a troubling question that exist in
scholarly literature, theory or in practice that
point to the need for meaningful understanding
and deliberate investigation.
SOURCES OF RESEARCH PROBLEM
1. Experience and clinical field work/Familiarity with
your area of practice
2. Interactions at seminars, conferences, etc
3. Nursing Literatures and theories (reading)
4. Brainstorming
5. Social and political issues
6. Recommendations from previous research works
7. Other sources:
a. Replications
b. Directives
c. Expert opinions etc
d. Hunches (suspicion that something is true
or false or just to know)
e. Intuitions
f. Popular beliefs and misconceptions
 STEPS OF RESEARCH PROBLEM FORMULATION

2. Thorough Literature
1. Selecting a topic review

3. Narrowing the research

problem
4.
Discussions/consultations

5. Rephrasing the problem

6. Finalizing the research

problem
Selecting a topic:
The identification of a research problem area is a creative work that depends on
imagination and ingenuity. Problems can be sourced from wide range of places.
The problems as they come to mind are usually broad and not handy. The
general unwritten principle to find a topic is put all general areas/ideas of
interest as they come to mind on paper to eliminate forgetfulness and give you a
focus.

Thorough Literature review:

Here the researcher proceeds to wide search and review of literatures on the
broad area of problem identifies above to enable the researcher have a full
grasp and understanding of the problem area, areas needing further
investigations amongst others.

Narrowing the research problem:

This the transformation and sharpening of the general topic into a workable
problem based on the knowledge/clearer view and grasp of the problem area
obtained through thorough literature review.
Discussions/consultations:
Discussion with experts and peers on the research problem usually
generate useful insight to further strengthen the intended work.

Rephrasing the problem:

After narrowing the problem area and consultations, the researcher
now writes down the refined research problem I analytical and
operational terms for the study.

Finalizing the research problem:

This the last stage where the topic is finalized with decisions on
delimitation, objectives, hypotheses, conceptual framework,
methodology etc. to be adopted taking into account the costs
involved, availability of subjects, ethical concerns etc.
 QUALITIES OF A GOOD RESEARCH PROBLEM
Significance of the problem

Recency

Researchability/feasibility

Originality

Researcher’s interest

Researcher’s ability

Reducible to one or two hypotheses

Sharp, precise and ambiguous

 QUALITIES OF A GOOD RESEARCH PROBLEM CONT.
A Nursing problem worthy of investigation should satisfy the
following criteria:
1. Significance of the problem
To establish this, we need to check if the research problem/study
has the potential to generate knowledge that will serve to
improve/refine existing practices and the professional body of
knowledge by answering the following questions:
• Will it Influence nursing practice?
• Will it promote the testing and development of any theory?
• Is it related to current professional concerns and priorities in
Nursing?
• Is it socially relevant?
• Is it based on previous studies?
2. Recency: The research problem has to be a recent/current problem that
need solution or further understanding. It must be an extraction of the
current challenges of the service, education and administration sectors of
nursing.
Example: A study investigating people’s knowledge on small pox and its
prevention.
It is does not satisfy the criteria of recency as small pox has been eliminated
as far back as the 70s.
However, should the study focus on Ebola/Lassa fever, it does meet the
recency criteria as theses are current health issues.

Current Trends/Problem areas in Nursing Research

The following Recent Realities IN HEALTH have occasioned NEW CHALLENGES:

New medical advances/sophistication
Increased proneness to Litigations
Evidence-based practice
There are new and other challenging socio-economic realities
Sophisticated clientele: more enlightened, require quality assurance, quality care,
etc
 Current Trends/Problem areas in Nursing Research Cont.

 Health Promotion
 Nursing Decision Making
 Effectiveness of Nursing Intervention in Selected
Health Problems
 Prevention
 Case Studies/Qualitative Research
 Ethnographic Studies
 Compliance

09/01/2025 27
3. Researchability/feasibility: The variables
identified must be observable and measurable
4. Originality
5. Researcher’s interest
6. Problem must be simple enough for researcher’s
ability and level of expertise/education
7. Problem must be reducible to one or two
hypotheses
8. Must be sharp, precise and unambiguous
ii. Statement of research objectives/research hypotheses - .
• These are clear statements of what is going to be
investigated by the researcher.
• They are stated in realistic, specific, measurable and
achievable terms.
• They must be within the scope of the research topic and
they must be obtained from the data collected for the study
• >Words like to identify, to find out, to measure, to show etc
are often used to state research objectives.
• >Sometimes hypotheses are stated together with or in place
of objectives of the study. Hypotheses are intelligent guesses
that have not been proved They could be in the form of null
or alternate hypotheses. Null hypotheses are most preferred
in research.
09/01/2025 29
iii. Defining the scope of the study -
These specifies the parts of the topic of research or research
problems and the research setting that will be covered by the
research project. E.g. in a study on utilization of PNC services in
Dutse, the researcher may just state that this study will investigate
the availability and use of PNC services among women of childbearing
age in Dutse LGA of Jigawa state.
iv. Review of Literature – This is an extensive reading search and
collection of materials in areas related to the topic of research. Once
research problem is identified, the researcher should read widely
about the topic in textbooks, journals, magazines, newspapers and
other printed and unprinted materials. The readings should include
theories related to the research topic. This will provide better
understanding of the topic under study
v. Identifying appropriate research design – This may be
experimental or non-experimental (Survey) designs according to the
topic of research.
09/01/2025 30
vi. Identifying and defining the population of the
study – This may be identified from the topic of
research. However the population of study should
be clearly identified and defined. Study population
is the group of people or subjects in which the
research is going to be conducted e.g. if the
research is going to be use of antenatal, family
planning or postnatal services, the study population
may be all women of childbearing age in a an
identified research area.

09/01/2025 31
vii. Determining the Sample – A sample is the part of the
population selected for the study. The sample is selected
through the process called sampling. There are two methods
sampling i.e. probability and non-probability methods

 Probability sampling techniques are those techniques that

give every subject equal chance of being selected for the
study. This can be done through Simple random, stratified,
cluster and systematic sampling techniques

 Non-probability sampling techniques are those that do not

give all the subjects/respondents equal chance of being
selected for the study. It could be achieved through
availability, convenience, accidental or hazard techniques
amongst others.
09/01/2025 32
viii. Ethical Considerations – This involves obtaining
permission for research, the process of informed consent
and legal implications as it relates protection of the
research subjects
viii. Collection of data – Research data are pieces of
information obtained from the research subjects that have
not been interpreted. There are many methods of data
collection in research. They include quantitative methods
such as the use of questionnaires or qualitative methods
such as Indepth interview (IDI), Focus Group Discussion
(FGD), Observation and content analysis.
 Sometimes more than one method of data collection can
be used in a research.
 Adopt appropriate method of data collection for your
09/01/2025 33
ix. Presentation and analysis of data – Data can be
presented and analyzed using appropriate techniques.
Research data can be presented using frequency tables,
bar chart, pie chart or histogram.
 Appropriate statistical methods such as percentages,
chi-square, regression analysis, measures of central
tendency, standard deviation etc should be used in the
analysis of data. Proper interpretation should be given
to every data analyzed.
 Data analysis should answer the research questions,
achieve the objectives or the research hypotheses.

09/01/2025 34
 x. Discussion of findings – Important findings should
be properly explained and be related to previous
research findings or existing literature

> Where there is no available literature to back

findings, the researcher should provide his/her
explanation of the findings

xi. Communicating research findings: The research

process is not complete until the findings and
recommendations are communicated to others
through such means as publication in journals or other
approved means of communication.

09/01/2025 35
 .

EXAMPLE
Research design Research problem:
Descriptive A study to assess challenges faced by caregivers of
research design schizophrenic patients in Jahun LGA of Jigawa state.

Communicatio
Setting
n of findings
Jahun town, Jahun
LGA of Jigawa state

Data analysis
and
interpretation
Target Population
Parents schizophrenic Data collection
patients residing in Structured interview
JAHUN TOWN schedule

Attitude scale

Sampling technique
Simple random sampling Sample size
09/01/2025 36
100 respondents
 Nurses’ role in Research
Nurses are both producers and consumers
As Producers of Nursing Research:
 Nurses must develop selves by actively participating in designing and
implementing studies.
 Generate current information to guide practice - EBP
 Research is thus every nurse’s primary responsibility – a job description

As Consumers of Nursing Research

Nurses have the responsibility to:
 Read research reports to develop new skills and search for relevant
findings that may affect their practice – evidence-based practice.
 Subscribe to professional journals
 Invest in (acquire) professional (health) and general books to nourish
the mind and sharpen clinical competence
09/01/2025 37
 BARRIERS TO NURSING RESEARCH
• Nurses' subjective/personal
barriers: nurse's lack of motivation,
interest, confidence, and belief in
the value of nursing research.
• Organization/structural barriers:
lack of planning for nursing
research by nurse administrators,
poor funding, workplace, etc.
• Other barriers include lack of
acceptance of risk-taking
behaviors, etc.
09/01/2025 38
 REFERENCES
• Mustafa A. (2011), Nursing Research and Statistics.India:AITBS
publishers.
• Filani T. Egbede (2006), Research Process,Nigeria, TIELF
Publishers.
• Polit F . Denise and Beck T.Jerry (2008), NURSING
RESEARCH:Generating and assessing evidence for Nursing
Practice,Australia
• Ifah S. Samuel (1996), Introduction to Social Statistics, Maiduguri-
Nigeria, University of Maiduguri Printing and Press.
• Vaidyanathan R. and Neeklakshi G. (2012), Overview of Nursing
Research Including Biostatistics, India, Jay pee Brothers Medical
Publishers (p) Limited.
09/01/2025 39