nursing research chapter 9 quizlet

Nursing Research Nursing Test Bank and Practice Questions (60 Items)

Welcome to your nursing test bank and practice questions for nursing research.

Nursing Research Test Bank

Nursing research has a great significance on the contemporary and future professional nursing practice, thus rendering it an essential component of the educational process. Research is typically not among the traditional responsibilities of an entry-level  nurse . Many nurses are involved in either direct patient care or administrative aspects of health care. However, nursing research is a growing field in which individuals within the profession can contribute a variety of skills and experiences to the science of nursing care. Nursing research is critical to the nursing profession and is necessary for continuing advancements that promote optimal nursing care. Test your knowledge about nursing research in this 60-item nursing test bank.

Quiz Guidelines

Before you start, here are some examination guidelines and reminders you must read:

• Practice Exams : Engage with our Practice Exams to hone your skills in a supportive, low-pressure environment. These exams provide immediate feedback and explanations, helping you grasp core concepts, identify improvement areas, and build confidence in your knowledge and abilities.
• You’re given 2 minutes per item.
• For Challenge Exams, click on the “Start Quiz” button to start the quiz.
• Complete the quiz : Ensure that you answer the entire quiz. Only after you’ve answered every item will the score and rationales be shown.
• Learn from the rationales : After each quiz, click on the “View Questions” button to understand the explanation for each answer.
• Free access : Guess what? Our test banks are 100% FREE. Skip the hassle – no sign-ups or registrations here. A sincere promise from Nurseslabs: we have not and won’t ever request your credit card details or personal info for our practice questions. We’re dedicated to keeping this service accessible and cost-free, especially for our amazing students and nurses. So, take the leap and elevate your career hassle-free!
• Share your thoughts : We’d love your feedback, scores, and questions! Please share them in the comments below.

Quizzes included in this guide are:

Recommended Resources

Recommended books and resources for your NCLEX success:

Disclosure: Included below are affiliate links from Amazon at no additional cost from you. We may earn a small commission from your purchase. For more information, check out our privacy policy .

Saunders Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN Saunders Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN Examination is often referred to as the best nursing exam review book ever. More than 5,700 practice questions are available in the text. Detailed test-taking strategies are provided for each question, with hints for analyzing and uncovering the correct answer option.

Strategies for Student Success on the Next Generation NCLEX® (NGN) Test Items Next Generation NCLEX®-style practice questions of all types are illustrated through stand-alone case studies and unfolding case studies. NCSBN Clinical Judgment Measurement Model (NCJMM) is included throughout with case scenarios that integrate the six clinical judgment cognitive skills.

Saunders Q & A Review for the NCLEX-RN® Examination This edition contains over 6,000 practice questions with each question containing a test-taking strategy and justifications for correct and incorrect answers to enhance review. Questions are organized according to the most recent NCLEX-RN test blueprint Client Needs and Integrated Processes. Questions are written at higher cognitive levels (applying, analyzing, synthesizing, evaluating, and creating) than those on the test itself.

NCLEX-RN Prep Plus by Kaplan The NCLEX-RN Prep Plus from Kaplan employs expert critical thinking techniques and targeted sample questions. This edition identifies seven types of NGN questions and explains in detail how to approach and answer each type. In addition, it provides 10 critical thinking pathways for analyzing exam questions.

Illustrated Study Guide for the NCLEX-RN® Exam The 10th edition of the Illustrated Study Guide for the NCLEX-RN Exam, 10th Edition. This study guide gives you a robust, visual, less-intimidating way to remember key facts. 2,500 review questions are now included on the Evolve companion website. 25 additional illustrations and mnemonics make the book more appealing than ever.

NCLEX RN Examination Prep Flashcards (2023 Edition) NCLEX RN Exam Review FlashCards Study Guide with Practice Test Questions [Full-Color Cards] from Test Prep Books. These flashcards are ready for use, allowing you to begin studying immediately. Each flash card is color-coded for easy subject identification.

Recommended Links

If you need more information or practice quizzes, please do visit the following links:

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. Keep up the pace and continue learning with these practice quizzes:

• Nursing Test Bank: Free Practice Questions UPDATED ! Our most comprehenisve and updated nursing test bank that includes over 3,500 practice questions covering a wide range of nursing topics that are absolutely free!
• NCLEX Questions Nursing Test Bank and Review UPDATED! Over 1,000+ comprehensive NCLEX practice questions covering different nursing topics. We’ve made a significant effort to provide you with the most challenging questions along with insightful rationales for each question to reinforce learning.

3 thoughts on “Nursing Research Nursing Test Bank and Practice Questions (60 Items)”

Thanks for the well prepared questions and answers. It will be of a great help for those who look up your contributions.

Hi Zac, we’re having some performance issues with the quizzes so we’re forced to change their settings in the meantime. We are working on a solution and will revert the changes once we’re sure that the problem is resolved. Thanks for the understanding!

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

• Find Flashcards
• Why It Works
• Tutors & resellers
• Content partnerships
• Teachers & professors
• Employee training

Brainscape's Knowledge Genome TM

• Entrance Exams
• Professional Certifications
• Foreign Languages
• Medical & Nursing
• Humanities & Social Studies
• Mathematics
• Health & Fitness
• Business & Finance
• Technology & Engineering
• Food & Beverage
• Random Knowledge

See full index

Learn chapter 9, 10, 11 in nursing research, top chapter 9, 10, 11 in nursing research flashcards ranked by quality.

Brainscape Certified Class

Nursing Management of Care

Nursing Mental Health

Nursing Pediatrics

Nursing Adult Health

Nursing Safety & Infection

Nursing Fundamentals

Nursing Maternity

Nursing Pharmacology

Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP)

Research in Nursing

By: paul dearing.

NURS4110 Evidence Based Practice

By: kimberly hathaway.

Nursing Research

By: carrie ortiz, knowledge genome.

• Corporate Training
• Teachers & Schools
• Android App
• Help Center
• Law Education
• All Subjects A-Z
• All Certified Classes
• Earn Money!

Nursing Research MCQs With Answers!

Check out our informative designed to help you practice for all the Nursing Research exams. The main focus of this nursing research MCQs with answers quiz is to recall everything you have studied during the course. It is true that doctors are the significant priority people in the health profession, but nurses are not the less, as the doctors cannot work without them. The quiz below will test your knowledge of the subject. Take the quiz and don't forget to share your result with friends.

Nursing Research Questions and Answers

A nurse who reads research articles and incorporates research findings into nursing practice would demonstrate which of the following research roles.

Primary investigator

Collaborator

Rate this question:

Florence Nightingale is most noted for which of the following contributions to nursing research?

Case study approach to research.

Data collection and analysis.

Framework and model development.

Quasi-experimental study design.

Which of the following historical events had a major impact on the funding for nursing research?

Development of local, national, and international nursing research conferences by Sigma Theta Tau.

Initiation of the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research.

Formation of the National Institute for Nursing Research.

Development of a Nursing Research Council as part of the American Nurses Association.

An example of inductive reasoning is:

Reasoning from all chronically ill patients to a single chronically ill patient.

Reasoning from a single diabetic patient to all diabetic patients.

Using a standard nursing care plan to care for a specific patient.

Using a computerized nursing care plan to care for insulin-dependent diabetic patients.

Quantitative and qualitative research approaches are particularly useful in nursing because they:

Are easy to implement.

Require few resources.

Are both process oriented.

Balance each other by generating different types of nursing knowledge.

Which of the following types of research involve at least some control by the researcher to implement the study treatment?

Correlational

Descriptive

Quasi-experimental

Experimental

In which type of research is there high researcher control, random sampling, and laboratory setting?

Benner (1984) emphasizes the importance of acquiring clinical knowledge and expertise through:.

Professional experience

Personal experience

Academic experience

What category of research is suggested by the following research question?   "Does telephone follow-up by nurses improve patients' compliance with their medication regimens?"

Applied research

Basic research

Descriptive research

Phenomenological research

A researcher investigates the effect of frequency of position change on healing of decubitus ulcers. The study would be described as:

Applied research seeks to solve a clinical problem in which setting  , a researcher designs a study that uses a random sampling method to decrease the likelihood of bias in the study sample. this strategy was used to implement:.

Manipulation

Data collection

Experimental research

Which of the following definitions best describes rigor in quantitative research?

Time frame in which the research takes place

Degree of aggressiveness used in acquiring the data

Amount of control and precision exerted by the methodology

Process used to synthesize findings to form conclusions from a study

A researcher is interested in studying stress and coping in caregivers of elderly stroke victims. The researcher designs a study where data collection takes place in the caregiver's home. This would be an example of which type of research setting?

Natural, field

Highly controlled, field

Partially controlled, laboratory

Highly controlled, laboratory

Problem identification in the research process would be equivalent to which step in the nursing process?

Goal identification

Data interpretation

Identifying solutions

Nursing diagnosis

The plan in the problem-solving process is equivalent to which step in the research process?

Implementation

The research process differs from the nursing process on which of the following?

Identifies new information

Involves abstract, critical thinking

Has a broader focus

Utilizes complex thinking

Which of the following would identify the specific aim or goal of the study based on the identified problem?

Literature review

Methodology

Assumptions

Research subjects in a study of quality of life (QOL) in liver transplant recipients were asked to complete a questionnaire about their experiences following transplantation. Which of the following would be a likely assumption the researcher made in relation to this study?

Subjects will complete every item on the questionnaire.

Subjects are able to identify a personal awareness of QOL.

All liver transplant recipients invited to participate in the study will complete a questionnaire.

QOL is an important issue to liver transplant recipients.

Before implementing a large, multisite research investigation, a researcher conducts a smaller study of the planned study to identify any problematic areas. This smaller study is known as a(n):

Exploratory design

Pilot study

The researcher uses which portion of the research report to capture the reader's attention?

The sentence "the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between health beliefs and breast self-examination" would most likely be found in which section of a research report, the initial and one of the most significant steps in conducting the research process is:.

Defining the research variables.

Identifying the research problem.

Stating the research purpose.

Determining the feasibility of the study.

The purpose statement should identify the study variable(s) and what other key aspect of the study?

Measurement tools

One important source for identification of a research problem would be:

Nursing practice

Research textbook

Nursing code of ethics

Practice guidelines

In the literature report of a study on quality of life, the researcher describes two previous investigations suggesting that spirituality is related to quality of life. This information suggests the current study is significant because it:

Influences theology.

Builds on previous research.

Challenges existing theory.

Addresses multidisciplinary concerns.

Feasibility is determined by examining which of the following? 

Researcher's credibility

Significance of research problem

Availability of subjects

Previous studies

In a research proposal, the investigator notes that written permission has been obtained from three local hospitals to access patients for the proposed study. This is an example of what aspect of a study?

Reliability

Feasibility

A research hypothesis:

Predicts the expected results or outcomes of the study

Defines the theoretical framework for the study

Identifies the source of the problem under study

Clarifies the concepts used in the study

The statement "This study explores the experience of caregiving by adult daughters of parents with Alzheimer disease" is an example of which of the following?

Simple hypothesis

Complex hypothesis

What type of hypothesis is the following? "Normal saline flush with heparin is more effective than normal saline flush alone in maintaining patency of an intermittent intravenous site."

Simple, research

Complex, nondirectional

Complex, causal

Simple, directional

What type of hypothesis is the following?"Cancer patients who receive music therapy complain less frequently of pain and require less pain medication than cancer patients not receiving music therapy." 

Complex, directional hypothesis

Simple, associative hypothesis

Simple, nondirectional hypothesis

Complex, null hypothesis

What type of hypothesis is the following? "Low-fat diet is related to lower total cholesterol and higher HDL (high-density lipoprotein)." 

Complex, directional, causal

Complex, directional, associative

Simple, nondirectional, research

Simple, directional, causal

The dependent variable is:

A stimulus or activity that is varied by the researcher.

The quality, property, or characteristic identified in the problem.

A characteristic or element of the human subjects involved in the study.

The response or outcome that the researcher wants to understand.

Identify the independent variable in the following hypothesis:"Cancer patients who receive music therapy complain less frequently of pain and require less pain medication than cancer patients not receiving music therapy." 

Relaxation therapy

Complaints of pain

Pain medication use

Music therapy

Hypotheses: "Structured preoperative support is more effective in reducing surgical patients' perception of pain and request for analgesics than structured postoperative support." Question: "Request for analgesics" is the:

Independent variable.

Dependent variable.

Attribute variable

Extraneous variable

Hypotheses: "Structured preoperative support is more effective in reducing surgical patients' perception of pain and request for analgesics than structured postoperative support." Question: "Perception of pain" is the:

Attribute variable.

Hypotheses: "Structured preoperative support is more effective in reducing surgical patients' perception of pain and request for analgesics than structured postoperative support." Question: "Type of support" is

Dependent variable

Hypotheses: "Structured preoperative support is more effective in reducing surgical patients' perception of pain and request for analgesics than structured postoperative support." This hypothesis is

Simple, directional, research

Complex, nondirectional, null

Complex, directional, research

Simple, nondirectional, statistical

The statement below is an example of which of the following? "In this study, pain is reflected as a score between 0 and 10 on the Post-operative Pain Rating Scale."

Problem statement

Conceptual definition

Associative hypothesis

Operational definition

In which section of the research report might the problem statement be located?

Implications

The literature review section of a research report might include a summary of which of the following?

Empirical literature

Funding sources

Proposed methods and design

Description of study sample

Which of the following represents a primary source?

The results of a computer search related to the primary topic of interest.

A report of a study written by the researcher who did the study.

A published summary of the relevant research in a primary care area.

A thesaurus that identifies key words to use in a computer search.

At what point is the literature review conducted in a qualitative investigation?

Prior to study implementation

During study implementation

After study completion

Depends on the type of study

Which of the following types of information is consistently covered in a quantitative literature review? 

Descriptions of effective clinical outcomes

Anecdotal opinions of expert researchers

Approaches used to investigate similar problems

Clinical impressions of related phenomena

The primary purpose for reviewing relevant literature is to:

Select the research design.

Delineate the existing knowledge base of an identified problem

Interpret previous research findings

Develop conceptual and operational definitions of variables

A crucial resource for researchers conducting a literature review would be:

A secondary source.

An academic library.

Lay literature

A research mentor

Which numbers are even?

Which of the following indexes would provide the largest number of relevant nursing sources.

International Nursing Index

Nursing Studies Index

Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature

Index Medicus

A critical aspect of beginning a database search for relevant literature on a topic of interest involves identifying:

Reference management software

Electronic journals

Existing knowledge

Quiz Review Timeline +

Our quizzes are rigorously reviewed, monitored and continuously updated by our expert board to maintain accuracy, relevance, and timeliness.

• Current Version
• Mar 04, 2024 Quiz Edited by ProProfs Editorial Team
• Apr 13, 2010 Quiz Created by John Dixon

Related Topics

• Breastfeeding
• Child Health

Recent Quizzes

Featured Quizzes

Popular Topics

• Certified Nurses Assistant Quizzes
• Community Health Nursing Quizzes
• Founcations Of Nursing Quizzes
• Fundamentals Of Nursing Quizzes
• LPN Quizzes
• Nursing Abbreviation Quizzes
• Nursing Informatics Quizzes
• Nursing Management Practice Quizzes
• Nursing Process Quizzes
• Psychiatric Nursing Quizzes

Related Quizzes

Wait! Here's an interesting quiz for you.

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• HHS Author Manuscripts

The Evolution of Nursing Research

Jacqueline m. stolley.

Trinity College of Nursing, Moline, Illinois

THE RESEARCH CULTURE in nursing has evolved in the last 150 years, beginning with Nightingale’s work in the mid-1850s and culminating in the creation of the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) at the National Institues of Health (NIH). This article highlights nursing’s efforts to facilitate the growth of the research culture by developing theory, establishing the importance of a research-based practice, advancing education, and providing avenues for dissemination of research. Similarities with the chiropractic profession are discussed, along with a commentary by Cheryl Hawk, D.C, Ph.D.

EVOLUTION OF NURSING RESEARCH

The development of a research culture in nursing in many ways parallels that of chiropractic, and by reviewing key aspects of the evolution of the science of nursing, there are lessons to be learned, and mistakes to be avoided. Nursing research has changed dramatically in the past 150 years, beginning with Florence Nightingale in the 19th century. Clearly, nursing research has not always had the influence and significance it holds today. In fact, for a number of years after Nightingale’s work, little is found in the literature concerning nursing research. This is perhaps due to the past perception of nursing as an apprenticeship in a task-oriented caring profession ( 1 ). Although research was conducted with respect to nursing education and administration in the first half of the 20th century, it was not until the 1950s that nursing research began the advancement that has been seen in the past three decades. This is due to many factors: an increase in the number of nurses with advanced academic preparation, the establishment of vehicles for dissemination of nursing research, federal funding and support for nursing research, and the upgrading of research skills in faculty and students. This article provides a brief review of the development of research in nursing, and along with it, the theory that has guided that process.

NURSING THEORY DEVELOPMENT

As with other practice professions, nursing requires a knowledge foundation that is based on theory and derived from systematic research. The first nursing theorist, Florence Nightingale, created detailed reports of both medical and nursing matters as chief nurse for the British in the Crimean War in the mid-1850s. Nightingale noted that “… apprehension, uncertainty, waiting, expectation, fear of surprise, do a patient more harm than any exertion” (p. 6) ( 2 ). As a result, Nightingale’s conceptualization of nursing included the need to have an understanding of the laws of nature, the prevention of disease, and the use of personal power. She viewed persons as both physical and spiritual beings, emphasizing the importance of the environment and the need to care for the patient, not the disease. With her emphasis on the environment, changes in nutrition, hydration, and sanitation resulted, and mortality rates dropped drastically during the Crimean War ( 3 ). In subsequent years, Nightingale developed “laws of nursing” that formed the basis for nursing science and guided nursing education in the United States from 1850 to the 1950s ( 4 ).

In the 1960s, nursing theory was used to guide teaching rather than research or practice. This was a natural outgrowth of nursing’s earlier focus on education and professional identity. Additionally, the National League for Nursing (the professional accrediting body) stipulated a conceptual framework for curriculum. Paradigmatic concepts integral to nursing were identified as person, environment, health , and nursing ( 5 – 7 ), and scientific energies were spent developing curriculum that corresponded to existing theories ( 7 ). At this point in time, nurse educators began to urge students to “care for the whole person” and textbooks underscored the importance of “holism” in nursing, with subtitles such as “The Biopsychosocial Approach.” Nurse authors acknowledged multiple causality in human illness, but all too often research, curricula, and textbooks reflected linear cause-and-effect models rather than multivariate approaches.

The 1950s and 1960s saw the development of theories explaining the art and science of nursing. Hildegard Peplau published Interpersonal Relations in Nursing ( 8 ) in 1952, based on her work as a psychiatric nurse. Other theories. included Levine’s Conservation Principles of Nursing ( 9 ) in, 1967; Roger’s Introduction to the Theoretical Basis of Nursing ( 10 ) in 1970, and The Science of Unitary Man ( 11 ) in 1980, followed by The Science of Unitary Human Beings, a Paradigm for Nursing ( 12 ) in 1983. Imogene King published A Theory for Nursing: Systems, Concepts, Process ( 13 ) in 1981, and Sister Calista Roy published her adaptation model ( 14 ) in 1980. These “grand” theories were complex and key concepts were hard to measure empirically. Thus it was difficult to test these early nursing theories through research. With the emphasis on clinical nursing research, the recent trend has been to develop and test midrange theories that describe patient problems and nursing practice.

NURSING RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT

In 1859, Nightingale used the battlefield hospitals of the Crimean War as her research laboratory, using an epidemiological process to describe the morbidity and mortality of sick and injured soldiers. Her pioneering epidemiological research and statistical methodology (documenting the relationship between the environment and health status of soldiers) was the hallmark of scientific investigation in nursing ( 4 , 15 ).

An historical review from 1900 to 1949 reveals that nursing research in the United States (see Table 1 ) was in its infancy, focusing on nursing education, nurses, nursing students, and ways to organize nurses’ work. As noted earlier, at this time, nursing theory was discussed solely as a means of developing and organizing educational curriculum. Early educators were unable to develop educational programs that both represented a nursing perspective and helped students focus on nursing concepts and problems rather than medical concepts and problems. In the first half of this century, groups were formed to answer such questions as: what is nursing, what do nurses do, and how unique is nursing from other health science disciplines? Professional debates raged as to whether nursing was merely a “poor stepsister” of medicine or whether it was part of the biological, natural, or physical sciences ( 4 ). Research during this period was essentially nonexistent in terms of nursing practice.

Nursing: Historical Developments in Nursing Theory and Research

It was not until the 1980s that nursing devoted a sizeable portion of its research effort to patients and patient behavior, an emphasis that emerged logically as nurses began to recognize the interplay between behavior and rehabilitation or recovery from illness. Historically, nurses searched for single causative agents when promoting health or preventing illness, even as they acknowledged the contributions of multiple other factors. Predominant modes of inquiry relied on early in the development of a culture of nursing research were empirical (logical positivist). Nurse researchers modeled themselves after colleagues in the basic and biomedical sciences, perhaps in an effort to seek scientific validation. Only during the 1980s and 1990s did nurses increasingly use qualitative research methods, such as phenomenology and ethnography, to explain complex human phenomena. Therefore, nurse researchers are just beginning to respond to the need to view human problems in less reductionistic terms when the research questions call for a holistic combination of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies ( 16 ). Over the past two decades, many nurses have pursued further education, consultation, or research to enhance their understanding and ability to respond constructively to patient behavior. For example, by the mid-1980s, there was a sizable increase in nursing studies of individuals and families experiencing developmental, environmental, or illness-generated crisis situations involving both acute and long-term stress responses ( 17 – 20 ).

During the 1990s, nursing practice underwent a clinical revolution in response to societal, medical, scientific, and technologic advances. Changes in nursing practice began to result from nursing research (e.g., research-based practice guidelines) as the efforts of individuals both in and outside of nursing (e.g., National Academy of Science, National Institute for Nursing Research, and major foundations) coalesced to stimulate and support clinical nursing research. Concurrently, there was a new surge of interest among nurses themselves in redefining the problems of their practice and delineating the gaps in knowledge underpinning their practice base. As noted earlier, the current decade has been marked by interest in multiple modes of inquiry (qualitative and quantitative) for a practice discipline which must address complex human phenomena. In the past, the type of research questions most often addressed through nursing research were of a descriptive or exploratory nature. However, nurse researchers are now going beyond “what is” and “how” questions and are addressing more explanatory or predictive-level questions using methodologically rigorous experimental and quasi-experimental designs as they redefine clinical problems and systematically address gaps in their knowledge base. After becoming established in the research arena, nursing researchers have expanded to incorporate and collaborate on interdisciplinary studies, health care systems and health services research, and taxonomies such as Nursing Intervention Classification (NIC) ( 21 ) and Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC) ( 22 ). The taxonomies represent efforts to define what nurses do and outcomes sensitive to nursing interventions.

The culture of nursing research has now advanced to the point where consideration can be given not just to the conduct of research, but also to its application in practice. The conduct of research is not the end, but rather a means through which practice is improved by utilizing research findings. Research utilization is the process of conveying and applying research-based knowledge to impact or change existing practices in the health care system ( 23 ). The primary components of research utilization involve summarizing knowledge generated through research; imparting the research knowledge to nurses, other health professionals, policymakers, and consumers of health care; and accomplishing desired outcomes for patients, their families, and health care providers and agencies. Models for research utilization were developed in the 1970s, beginning with the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education in Nursing (WCHEN) Regional Program for Nursing Development ( 24 ). Other models include the Conduct and Utilization of Research in Nursing (CURN) project ( 25 ), the Stetler/Marram model ( 26 ), the retrieval and application of research in nursing (RARIN) model ( 27 ) and the Iowa model of research in practice ( 28 ). The primary goal of research utilization programs is to make research findings an integral part of nursing practice, assuring research-based care delivery models. Research utilization is an excellent model for application of research findings to practice by advanced practice nurses.

An important trend is the use of research findings to serve as the basis for treatment decision making called evidence-based practice ( 29 ). Using this process, a question involving treatment is developed, and determination of the adequacy of current research is made. If the research base is adequate, it is synthesized, protocols are developed and applied, and evaluation is completed. Through these efforts, the nursing profession, in partnership with other professions, bridges the gap between research and practice to improve patient care.

EDUCATIONAL ADVANCEMENT

Early nursing education took place in hospital training programs (nursing diploma), modeled on Florence Nightingale’s work in the United Kingdom ( 30 ). In 1915, nursing’s educational accrediting body, the National League for Nursing (NLN) called for university-level education. Baccalaureate programs in nursing emerged in 1923 at Yale University and Western Reserve University, but the majority of nursing education took place in hospital-based diploma programs. In 1971, the first community college programs for nursing education opened, providing graduates with an associate degree in nursing. Today, entry into nursing practice takes place primarily in associate degree programs, with baccalaureate programs second. Gradually, diploma programs have decreased in number, and few exist today. Associate degree programs may introduce nursing students to research, but baccalaureate programs included nursing research in the upper division curriculum. From 1900 to the 1960s, most nursing leaders obtained their graduate-level preparation in schools of education ( 30 ). For many years, the Master’s degree was considered the terminal degree in nursing.

The number of nurses whose career was devoted to research was miniscule in the 1960s. Indeed, even by the 1970s only about 400 nurses in the United States held a doctoral degree ( 31 ). In 1955, the Nursing Research Grants and Fellowship Program of the Division of Nursing, United States Public Health Service (USPHS) was established. This program awarded grants for nursing research projects, nursing research fellowships, and nurse-scientist graduate training ( 32 ). Early funding was for nurses to obtain their doctorates in fields outside of nursing, because there were no nursing doctoral programs available. As a result, nurse-physiologists, nurse-anthropologists, and so forth emerged in the field. They were educated to conduct research, but often stayed in the field of their doctorate and did not apply their research efforts to nursing care problems.The emphasis during this period continued to be on establishing nursing’s rightful place in the academic setting of the university. As nursing became integrated into university life during the 1970s, nursing faculty became aware of their responsibility to develop new knowledge, and in many university-based schools of nursing, faculty members began to prepare both themselves and their students to become investigators ( 33 ).

Currently, three types of doctoral degrees in nursing are available. A Nursing Doctorate (ND), first established at Case Western Reserve University in 1979, was designed to be equivalent to the Doctor of Medicine degree, providing students preparation for the practice of generalized nursing and future leadership, but not for advanced practice. Professional doctorates, Doctor of Nursing Science (DNS, DNSc, DSN), emphasized advanced clinical, administrative, or policy-related practice and leadership. The Doctor of Nursing Science degree focuses on applied rather than basic research, and on applying and testing new knowledge in practice. Although the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) was first available to nurses at Teachers College at Columbia University in the 1920s, interest in doctoral education was rekindled in the 1970s. The number of doctoral programs in nursing has increased from zero in the 1950s to over 65 institutions, three-fourths of which are academic doctorates (PhD) that prepare graduates for a lifetime of scholarship and research ( 34 ). More recently, nurses in academic settings have been encouraged to obtain postdoctoral research training with support available through both individual (F32) and institutional (T32) traineeships through the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

RESEARCH FUNDING AND SUPPORT

Several factors stimulated the growth of nursing research in the 1980s and 1990s. Perhaps the most important factor was the creation in 1986 of the National Center for Nursing Research (NCNR) in the United States Public Health Service (USPHS). The development of this Center resulted from intense political action by the American Nurses’ Association (ANA) ( 23 ). The primary aim of the NCNR was “the conduct, support, and dissemination of information regarding basic and clinical nursing research, training and other programs in patient care research” (p. 2) ( 35 ). Prior to the establishment of the NCNR, most of the federal funds supporting research were designated for medical studies that concentrated on the diagnosis and cure of disease. Thus, creation of the NCNR was a major achievement for nurse researchers. In 1993, the NCNR became the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), strengthening nursing’s position by giving the Center institute status within the NIH. This advance served to put nursing into the mainstream of research activities and on more equal status with scientists and other health professions. With the establishment of the Center and then the Institute, federal funding for nursing research has grown. In 1986, the NCNR had a budget of $16.2 million. In 1996, the budget for the NINR was about $55 million ( 1 ), more than a threefold increase over a decade. The NINR elected to foster five research priorities for 1995 through 1999: community-based nursing models, effectiveness of nursing interventions in HIV/AIDS, cognitive impairment, living with chronic illness, and biobehavioral factors related to immunocompetence ( 22 ).

The NINR’s strategic plan for the next millenium includes funding nursing research on chronic illnesses (e.g., improving adherence to chemotherapy, pain relief), quality and cost effectiveness of care, health promotion and disease prevention, management of symptoms (e.g., gender differences in response to therapeutics, managing the pain cycle), health disparities (e.g., cultural sensitivity), adaptation to new technologies (e.g., transplants), and palliative care at the end of life. Special allocations and Requests for Applications (RFA) have facilitated research in these target areas, although investigator-initiated research topics are funded if they are significant to nursing or patient care. The projected budget for NINR for the year 2000 is over $70 million, which is approximately distributed as follows: 73% for extramural research project grants; 8% for pre- and postdoctoral training; 3.5% for career development; 3.5% for Core Centers in specialized areas of research inquiry; 3% for the intramural program. Planning research for the next 5 years and into the next century is a welcome challenge for the NINR and the scientific community ( 36 ).

RESEARCH DISSEMINATION

Significant milestones in the development of nursing science began in the mid-1950s (see Table 1 ). From 1950 to 1959, there was growing emphasis on the need to identify a body of knowledge for the developing profession of nursing in order to justify its presence in post-World War II universities ( 37 ). Not only was the first journal of Nursing Research established in 1952; several textbooks related to nursing research were also published. Another critical step in the evolution of the culture of nursing science was the establishment of the American Nurses Foundation by the American Nurses Association specifically to promote nursing research. During the 1950s, regional research conferences were instituted for the first time, and federal support of nursing research began ( 4 , 33 , 37 ). All these elements were essential to the development of a science of nursing.

Several new nursing research journals, including Applied Nursing Research (ANR), were instituted in the late 1980s. ANR publishes research reports of special significance to nurse clinicians ( 1 ). Increasingly, clinical specialty (i.e., Heart and Lung, Journal of Gerontological Nursing ) journals are publishing data-based articles as well.

Another important event in the development and dissemination of nursing theory and research was the creation of the Annual Review of Nursing Research in 1983. This publication includes critical analyses of research pertinent to nursing and health, including nursing practice, nursing care delivery, nursing education, and the nursing profession. Chapters systematically assess knowledge development in nursing, encourage the use of research findings in practice, and provide direction for future research ( 22 ). More recently, scholars have joined to create the Encyclopedia of Nursing Research ( 38 ), a publication that provides a comprehensive overview of research studies, the history of nursing research, and the evolution of theory development in nursing.

The next century challenges nursing research with critical imperatives for improving health care. Changes in our nation’s population and their needs and expectations will impact the direction of nursing research. Consumers are becoming more involved in managing their own health care, and practitioners are continually adjusting to new technologies as well as innovative health care systems. The broad spectrum of nursing research encompasses both clinical and basic investigations with the patient as the central focus. Nursing must concentrate on making certain that our valuable scientific findings are incorporated into practice and focus on developing the next generation of nurse researchers ( 36 ).

The research culture in chiropractic is similar to where nursing research was in its early years. To move chiropractic research forward will require many of the same changes that occurred in nursing, such as educational advancement, collaboration in academic settings, federal acknowledgement and support, and development of more avenues for research dissemination to practitioners. Just as nursing had to overcome significant barriers such as attitudes and low educational and professional status, so, too, will the chiropractic profession have to strive to develop a research tradition in order to integrate research as part of its practice culture.