Table of Contents
Why is nursing theory important to research?
Nursing theories help guide and define nursing care and provide a foundation for clinical decision-making. Although some nursing theories have been around for hundreds of years in public health, many are still being used in today’s hospitals and healthcare settings. Nursing theories can also help nurses better understand the reasoning behind using care procedures, which outcomes those procedures might yield, and how to optimize practices for the future of care. Health care professionals can use different methodologies to turn theory into applicable practice. Nursing theory provides a perspective from which to define the what of nursing, to describe the who of nursing (who is the client) and when nursing is needed, and to identify the boundaries and goals of nursing’s therapeutic activities. The four types of qualitative research designs most often used to conduct nursing research include: 1) phenomenology, 2) grounded theory, 3) ethnography, and 4) narrative inquiry.
How is nursing theory used in nursing research?
To generate nursing diagnosis. Research without theory results in discreet information or data which does not add to the accumulated knowledge of the discipline. Theory guides the research process, forms the research questions, aids in design, analysis and interpretation. Theory helps to provide new insights into or ways of understanding an issue. It increases the utility, rigour, and credibility of research findings and it facilitates the development of new concepts and their generalizability or transferability. The relationship between research and theory is reciprocal where research generate more knowledge and theory. Theory is integral to the research process where it is important to use theory as a framework to provide perspective and guidance to the research study. Theory provides concepts to name what we observe and to explain relationships between concepts. Theory allows us to explain what we see and to figure out how to bring about change. Theory is a tool that enables us to identify a problem and to plan a means for altering the situation. They collect blood samples, administer vaccines, check lab work, and use critical thinking to assess a patient’s health and review adverse events or treatment toxicities. Throughout, they ensure patients meet protocol goals. Another significant role of a research nurse is to collect data throughout the trial. Theories are formulated to explain, predict, and understand phenomena and, in many cases, to challenge and extend existing knowledge, within the limits of the critical bounding assumptions. The theoretical framework is the structure that can hold or support a theory of a research study.
How many purposes are there in nursing theory?
Three Levels of Nursing Theory. There are generally three levels of nursing theory, which begin with abstract ideas and become more specific according to each level. The three main categories of nursing theories are grand nursing theories, middle-range nursing theories and practice-level nursing theories. According to the four concepts common in nursing theory; the person (patient), the environment, health & nursing (goals, roles, functions) can be analyzed. Each of these concepts is usually defined and described by a nursing theorist. Of the four concepts, the most important is that of the person. Nursing conceptual models can serve as facilitative frameworks for organizing and conducting research studies. Theories describe proposed and testable relationships between variables that are conceptually linked. Fawcett has named person, health, environment and nursing as the four main concepts of nursing that need to be comprehensively defined. The Human Caring Theory is significant because of its focus on the spiritual dimension of human beings. The basics of learning theories. Although there are various approaches to learning, three learning theories remain as the most well-recognized. They are behaviorism, cognitive constructivism, and social constructivism.
What is unique about nursing research?
Nurses perhaps have the most intimate understanding of patients’ various physical, emotional and socioeconomic needs. This knowledge gives them a unique perspective as researchers; it allows them to ask pertinent research questions and analyze data that will specifically improve patient health and wellbeing. Florence Nightingale is often seen as the very first nurse researcher. Her research in the 1850s focussed on soldiers’ morbidity and mortality during the Crimean War. Nightingale identified ‘research’ questions in practice and undertook a systematic collection of data to try to find answers to the problems. They collect blood samples, administer vaccines, check lab work, and use critical thinking to assess a patient’s health and review adverse events or treatment toxicities. Throughout, they ensure patients meet protocol goals. Another significant role of a research nurse is to collect data throughout the trial. Nursing theories offer frameworks that give shape to the scope of nursing care and practice. These consist of concepts, such as collaboration or respect, descriptions of relationships, and definitions. Nursing theories guide nurses in their practice and give them a foundation to make clinical decisions. Florence Nightingale: The Mother of Nursing. Florence Nightingale’s Environmental Theory was groundbreaking during the 1860s and helped change the course of nursing and healthcare while changing the outcomes of patients through the identification of environmental factors that may hinder their health and well-being.
What is the role and importance of theory in the research process?
Theories are usually used to help design a research question, guide the selection of relevant data, interpret the data, and propose explanations of the underlying causes or influences of observed phenomena. Theory is integral to research and research is integral to theory. Theory guides the development of many research questions and research helps generate new theories, as well as determining whether support for theories exists. The two purposes of theory are understanding and predicting. Accomplishing the first goal allows the theorist to gain an understanding of the relationship among various phenomena. Thus a theory enables us to predict the behavior or characteristics of one phenomenon from the knowledge of another phenomenon. In everyday use, the word theory often means an untested hunch, or a guess without supporting evidence. But for scientists, a theory has nearly the opposite meaning. A theory is a well-substantiated explanation of an aspect of the natural world that can incorporate laws, hypotheses and facts.
Why is theory important in research PDF?
According to Kawulich (2009) , a theory is a general body or body of principles offered to explain a phenomenon. Theories remain a vital part of research because of the meaning they add to research objectives. … … Also, theory helps researchers to find explanations for different aspects of research. Theories provide a framework for understanding human behavior, thought, and development. By having a broad base of understanding about the how’s and why’s of human behavior, we can better understand ourselves and others. Each theory provides a context for understanding a certain aspect of human behavior. In this paper, I will discuss the four types of research theories – deductive, inductive, grounded, and axiomatic. Research Initiates Theory 2. Research Helps Recasting of Theory 3. Research Refocuses Theory 4. Research Helps in Clarifying Theory. Theories can be applied at many stages of quantitative and qualitative (and mixed) research processes, including: providing rationale for the study; defining the aim and research questions; considering the methodological stance; developing data collection and generation tools; providing a framework for data analysis, … Interpretation is one of the three main functions of theory—explanation, prediction, and interpretation.
What is the best research method for nursing?
Qualitative research methods have become increasingly important as ways of developing nursing knowledge for evidence-based nursing practice. Qualitative research answers a wide variety of questions related to nursing’s concern with human responses to actual or potential health problems. Nursing Resources : Types of Research within Qualitative and Quantitative. However, qualitative research does not have to be theory driven either, nor do you need a theory to drive your research question. Rather than theory, all one really needs is a hypothesis that you are going to test through an empirical investigation. Qualitative researchers also rely heavily on theories drawn from the social sciences and humanities to guide their research process and illuminate their findings. A theoretical perspective allows the nurse to plan and implement care purposefully and proactively. When nurses practice purposefully and systematically, they are more efficient, have better control over the outcomes of their care, and are better able to communicate with others. In historical context, Florence Nightingale is considered to be the first nurse researcher. Though nursing in earlier days was based on trial and error, Nightingale’s contribution toward research was reflected in bringing down the mortality and morbidity among the sick and wounded in Crimean war.