Nursing Phenomena and Research Strategies―From Nurse's Concern to Researchable Question

Nursing research is a journey of exploration that begins with a question

　Nursing research is a journey of discovery. It is a process or a disciplined movement from the unknown and the uncertain to the known and the reliable. Because it is nursing research it involves knowledge that is of use to nursing in all its practices―whether education, administration, research or clinical practice. Nursing research is interested in the basic and social sciences that underpin our practice; interested in applied sciences that feed into our practice; and, interested in the specific application of information to our patient populations and our own behavior. We want to know all about our patients, from all perspectives. We want to know all there is to know about our own practice: its flaws and how to improve it. We want to know from the molecular level to the interactive behavioral level. We are eclectic. We are specialists and we are generalists. In the end, it is the need to know how to improve our care that is paramount.

　All research begins with a question. Answering questions has always been the special task of the researcher. Knowledge is only built through the answers to very specific questions. Broad, diffuse, rambling, inarticulate questions are of little use to a researcher, but sound, clear, directive, precise questions are critical to the success of any research project.