Research

Good: “It is a careful, disciplined injury, varying in technique and method according
to the nature and conditions of the problem identified, directed toward the
clarification or resolution (or both) of a problem.”

Aquino: “Research is, simply, the systematic search for pertinent information on a
specific topic or problem. After a careful, systematic search for pertinent
information or data on a specific topic or problem and after the research worker
has analyzed and interpreted the data, he eventually faces another essential task-
that of preparing the research report.”

Manual and Medel: “The process of gathering data or information to solve a

particular or specific problem in a scientific manner.”

Sanchez: “A systematic study or investigation of something for the purpose of

answering questions posed by the researcher.”

Treece and Treece: “Research in its broadest sense is an attempt to gain solutions
to problems. More precisely, it is the collection of data in a rigorously controlled
situation for the purpose of prediction or explanation.”

Polit and Beck (2004): “Research is systematic inquiry that uses disciplined
methods to answer questions or solve problems. The ultimate goal of research is
to develop, refine, and expand a body of knowledge.”

Nursing Research
Polit and Beck (2004): “Nursing research is systematic inquiry designed to develop
knowledge about issues of importance to the nursing profession, including nursing
practice, education, administration and informatics.”

Clinical Nursing Research – Research designed to generate knowledge to

guide nursing practice and to improve the health and quality of life of nurses’
clients.

Burns and Grove (2005) – “Have more narrowly 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.”

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.”
Examples of Nursing Research Questions:

 What are the factors that determine the length of stay of patients in the
intensive care unit undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery?
(Doering, Esmilian, Imperial-Perez, & Monsein, 2001)
 How do adults with acquired brain injury perceive their social interactions
and relationships? (Paterson & Stewart, 2002)

The Beginning and Development of Nursing Research

Developments:
Florence Nightingale’s Increasing focus on
Notes on Nursing 150 years Outcome Research and
(1859) later Biophysiologic Research
Promotion of evidence-
BEGINNING based practice
Strengthening of
multidisciplinary
collaboration

Purpose of Nursing Research

• Identification - discover new facts about known phenomena

• Description - find answer to the problem that is only partially solved

by existing methods and information

• Exploration - improve existing techniques and develop new

instruments or products
• Explanation - discover previously unrecognized substances or elements
• Prediction - discover pathways of action of known substances and
elements
• Control - classify or arrange in order related and valid generalizations
into systematized science

Role of Nursing Research

Importance of Nursing Research

 “ Nurses increasingly are expected to adopt an evidence-based practice (EBP),
which is defined as the use of the best clinical evidence on making patient care
decisions.”

A general agreement that research findings from rigorous studies constitute the
best type of evidence for informing nurses’ decisions, actions, and interactions
with the client. Nurses are accepting the need to base their actions and decisions
on evidence indicating that the actions are clinically appropriate, cost-effective and
result in positive outcomes for clients, making them professionally accountable to
their clients.

Research enables nurses to:

 Understand the varied dimensions of their profession
 Describe the characteristics of a particular nursing situation about
what little is known
 Explain phenomena that must be considered in planning nursing care
 Predict the probable outcomes of certain nursing decisions
 Control the occurrence of undesired outcomes
 Initiate activities to promote desired client behavior
 Identify practices that improve health care outcomes and contain costs
as well