The Research Process in Nursing

Kate Gerrish, Judith Lathlean, Kate Gerrish, Judith Lathlean

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781118522578
• Edition: 7
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Nursing

Comprehensive and thorough in scope, The Research Process in Nursing 7th edition provides everything you could want to know about research methods. This established textbook reflects the significant advances in nursing research and the importance of evidence-based practice, and provides an invaluable resource for both the novice and the more experienced researcher.

It includes practical information and advice on:

• How to find and critique the evidence
• How to choose the right approach
• How to collect data
• How to make sense of the data
• How to put research into practice

Special features:

• A clear, explicit and easy to understand text which links theory with practical steps in the research process.
• Examples provided allow the reader to apply a variety of research concepts to theoretical learning and professional practice.
• Incorporates chapters, research examples, and policy from a range of international countries, including Canada, Australia, USA and Hong Kong.
• Provides detailed discussions around each example, which clearly link theory with practice
• Easy to read for novice researchers and undergraduate nursing students, but at the same time provides sufficient depth and detail to be of value to experienced researchers and practitioners.

Section 1
Setting the Scene

Nursing research does not exist in a vacuum but is an applied discipline set in the context of a dynamic academic community and relating to a complex health care system. This section explores this context and introduces the reader to the nature of nursing research.

Chapter 1 presents the fundamental concepts of the discipline, reviews the current context of nursing research and emphasises the essential connection between nursing research and the practice of the profession. Even those who do not see themselves as active researchers should be users of the knowledge generated by research, and so need to understand much of what follows in the sections of this book. Chapter 2 takes the reader through the essential steps in the research process, each of which will be dealt with in much more depth in later sections, but with the aim of giving an overview of the entire undertaking, that is research. Recent examples from the literature are used to illustrate the varied nature of nursing research.

Research in nursing, as in health care generally, is complicated by the fact that it is involved with vulnerable human beings, and ethical principles need to be observed from the outset of any research project. Chapter 3 therefore tackles this moral obligation on the researcher, drawing out the practical implications, and setting the context for the more specific ethical regulations dealt with in Section 2.

The next two chapters, Chapters 4 and 5, deal with the need for nursing research to be inclusive in scope. User involvement in research has been advocated from within and outside the profession for more than a decade now, and Chapter 4, which has been written by new authors, argues for the full inclusion in the research process of those to whom the outcomes might apply. Chapter 5 examines research in a multi-ethnic society. Although there are many minority groups that deserve special consideration when designing nursing research, ethnicity perhaps merits particular consideration as a major factor impacting upon health care in UK society.

Chapter 6 is new to the seventh edition of the book and reflects the growth in digital technologies in recent years. This chapter introduces the reader to a range of digital technologies and considers how they can be used to support different stages of the research process.

Chapter 1
Research and Development in Nursing

Kate Gerrish

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Key points

• Research is concerned with generating new knowledge through a process of systematic scientific enquiry, the research process.
• Research in nursing can provide new insights into nursing practice, develop and improve methods of caring and test the effectiveness of care.
• Whereas comparatively few nurses may undertake research, all nurses should develop research awareness and use research findings in their practice.
• Evidence-based practice involves integrating the best available research evidence with professional expertise whilst also taking account of patient preferences, the patient’s state, setting and circumstances and health-care resources.

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Introduction

Significant changes in health care have taken place in the three decades since the first edition of this book was published, and these changes are set to continue. Technological developments have led to improved health outcomes and at the same time have raised public expectations of health-care services. Increased life expectancy and lower birth rates mean that the population in the United Kingdom is ageing. An older population is more likely to experience complex health needs, especially in regard to chronic disease, and this places additional demands on an already pressurised health service. At the same time, the escalating cost of health care is leading to a shift from expensive resource-intensive hospital care to more services being provided in the primary and community care sectors. In response to these changes, government health policy is increasingly focused on improving the clinical and cost-effectiveness of health care while at the same time reducing the burden of ill health through active public health and health promotion strategies. These changes in the United Kingdom are reflected in other high-income countries internationally.

In order to respond to these challenges, the UK government has identified a number of priorities that need to be progressed in order to provide high-quality care for patients and promote the health of the population at large. These include improving health outcomes by preventing illness as well as enhancing the quality of care provided to people with particular needs, for example, patients with common long-term conditions such as diabetes or those in need of palliative and end-of-life care (Department of Health 2012a, 2013a). In order to achieve the aspirations for enhancing quality and improving health and health outcomes, there is a need to change the way health-care professionals work and the way health services fit together and ensure that patients have access to the best available treatments. However, achieving quality in health care is a moving target. What was considered high-quality care in 1948 when the NHS was first founded is no longer considered to be the case nearly seven decades later. Knowledge about effective health-care interventions has increased by leaps and bounds, and this is certainly the case with nursing interventions.

It is essential that nurses respond proactively to the developments in nursing and health-care delivery outlined earlier in order to provide high-quality care in response to the needs of the individuals and communities with whom they work. To do this, they need up-to-date knowledge to inform their practice. Such knowledge is generated through research. This chapter introduces the concept of nursing research and considers how research contributes to the development of nursing knowledge. In recognising that nursing is a practice-based profession, the relevance of research to nursing policy and practice is examined within the context of evidence-based practice, and the responsibilities of nurses are explored in respect of research awareness, research utilisation and research activity.

Nursing Research and Development

The definition of research provided by Hockey (1984) in the first edition of this book is still pertinent today:

Research is an attempt to increase the sum of what is known, usually referred to as a ‘body of knowledge’ by the discovery of new facts or relationships through a process of systematic scientific enquiry, the research ...