NURS 8250/NURS 8250N: Advanced Theoretical and Scientific Perspectives in Nursing | Week 9

By this point in the course, you have developed each of the elements of your theoretical foundation for research. Yet, the development of a theoretical foundation is a highly iterative process that requires critical thinking, reflection, and creativity, which often leads to reappraisal and revision.

This week, take time to assess the entirety of your work on your theoretical foundation for research. Ask yourself incisive questions, such as:

• Which aspects of my theoretical foundation may not be feasible for dissertation research or a similar program of research?
• What could I rule out or adapt in my foundation to make my future research more manageable?
• Do I need to consult additional sources in the literature to strengthen my theoretical foundation?
• Are there places where I am stuck? If so, would it help to brainstorm ideas with colleagues?
• Are there inconsistencies in my work that need to be addressed?
• Is my work coherent, integrated, focused, and cogent? How can I improve it?

There are no required Learning Resources this week so that you can focus on refining your theoretical foundation for research. You are encouraged to contribute to this week’s optional Discussion as you improve your work. The Assignment: Theoretical Foundation for Research Paper is due by Day 7 of Week 10.

Learning Objectives – NURS 8250/NURS 8250N:Week 9: Refinement of the Theoretical Foundation for Research

Students will:

• Apply analytic methods to the development of theoretical foundations for research

Learning Resources

Required Readings

There are no required Learning Resources this week so that you can focus on refining your Theoretical Foundation for Research in the Discussion and the Assignment.

Discussion: Refining the Theoretical Foundation for Research NURS8250

Cassandra felt a huge sense of relief as she saw all of the elements of her theoretical foundation come together. She had invested a lot of time and energy into understanding her selected phenomenon and she was confident that she was on her way to developing a strong program of research. She was happy to set aside the work and enjoy some much-needed rest. When she looked at the partial draft of her paper again a few days later, she was surprised to notice a significant inconsistency in how she defined one of the concepts. With fresh eyes, she was able to discover something she had been overlooking for weeks! Now, it seemed like she would need to start at the beginning again to clarify the meaning of this concept.

Since Eduardo first began developing his theoretical foundation for research, a small, quiet voice had been nagging for his attention. He thought that he would understand certain aspects of his phenomenon better by now, and it bothered him that parts of his foundation still did not seem to work together. On the one hand, he reassured himself that his theoretical foundation was probably good enough for now and his confusion was due to his inexperience with the whole research process. On the other hand, he wondered if his doubts could mean that his theoretical foundation was missing something critical. He wasn’t sure what to do.

As Taylor thought more deeply about her theoretical foundation, she wondered if she was using the right symbols to convey the information as she intended. She had already revised her graphic model a number of times, and she still wasn’t sure if it made sense. Finally, she realized that she really needed others’ input, because even if it did seem logical to her, it might not be clear to others who were less familiar with her phenomenon of interest.

What questions or concerns have you encountered while developing your theoretical foundation for research? What kind of feedback would you like to receive from your colleagues as you refine your work?

In this Discussion, you have the opportunity to share your dilemmas and request support to help you hone your theoretical foundation for research. In addition, you can offer ideas and encouragement to your colleagues.

By Day 3

Post questions and/or describe difficulties you have encountered while developing your theoretical foundation for research. Ask for feedback or support from your colleagues to help you to refine your work.

Read a selection of your colleagues’ postings.

By Day 6

Respond to at least two of your colleagues by offering constructive feedback, suggestions, and encouragement. Justify your responses with scholarly sources. Refining the Theoretical Foundation for Research NURS8250

ADDITIONAL DETAILS 

Refining the Theoretical Foundation for Research

Introduction

In this episode of The Research Notebook, I’ll talk about how to refine the theoretical foundation for research. This means finding out what you want to prove and why it’s important before writing a paper or an article.

A research paper is more than just a collection of facts and a summary of the literature.

A research paper is more than just a collection of facts and a summary of the literature.

The purpose of your research should be clear from your title, abstract, introduction and conclusions sections. This can be done by using keywords in these sections that describe what you are going to talk about in detail later on in your paper (or throughout). For example, if your title is “The Effectiveness of Online Marketing Tools for Small Businesses”, then you should use this as an organizing principle for everything else that will be written about online marketing tools!

What’s your point? No text should be written without you knowing exactly what you want to say.

• A research paper is more than just a collection of facts and a summary of the literature. It is also your voice, your point of view, and your opinion. If you don’t know what you want to say in your paper, then it’s not going to be worth much at all.*

What are you trying to prove? What’s your conclusion?

When you’re writing a research paper, it’s important to take the time to ask yourself these questions:

• What am I trying to prove?

• What conclusion do I want to make?

These two questions are very important because they help focus your argument and give structure to what you’re trying to say. If you have a clear idea of what your conclusion is supposed to be, then everything else will fall into place later on in the process. If not (and this happens more often than we’d like), this can lead to problems later down the line when it comes time for revisions or corrections because there wasn’t enough clarity from the beginning about why one thing was true instead of another.*

What do you expect to find? What do you think the result will be?

In this section, you will brainstorm a list of questions to ask yourself when doing research. You may also want to make a list of topics that interest you and ask yourself what questions would be interesting or relevant to them.

• What do I expect to find?

• What do I think the result will be?

• How will I know if my expectations are met or not?

If everything goes well, by the end of this section (and possibly all of your other projects) you should have a better understanding of what it means for someone else’s experience with their own research project, as well as how they might approach their own research project differently than how they did theirs

Is there a model that helps explain the problem or situation well? Is another framework better than the one used for analysis?

A model is a simplified representation of something, often created to help us understand or predict a situation or problem. Models can be used to explain, predict and control.

For example:

• The model of the solar system helps us understand the planet’s rotation around the sun better than our own intuition might suggest; it also helps us predict where other planets will be in relation to Earth’s orbit when they pass by (and hence their distance from Earth).

• A common automotive engine uses spark plugs instead of valves to open up fuel lines at different points along an engine block’s stroke cycle; this allows for better control over how much fuel enters each cylinder during combustion—and thus more efficient operation as well!

You’ll need to make sense of the information or data you collect or find.

You’ll need to make sense of the information or data you collect or find.

For example, if a student is working on a research project and they collect some data from their classmates, it may not be clear what kind of information they want from the survey. They might need to ask questions about how much time students spend on homework outside class hours, but also what kinds of things people like doing with their free time during those hours—and then compare those results with how much time students spend studying outside class hours as well as other factors that affect academic performance (like whether or not someone has access to transportation).

Conclusion

You need to be able to articulate the project and its purpose, as well as what you expect from it. At this point, it’s helpful to make some notes or write down your thoughts so that they’re not floating around in your head all day long! You may also want to think about creating a model that explains why something works or doesn’t work. If there is no model that helps explain the problem well enough, then a better approach might be needed—either through more research or by changing other parts of the analysis process.