Notes On Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not

Nursing Research
Notes on Nursing: What it is and

What it is Not
Notes on Nursing: What it is and What it is Not is a book first published by
Florence Nightingale in 1859. A 136-page volume, it was intended to give
hints on nursing to those entrusted with the health of others. Florence
Nightingale stressed that it was not meant to be a comprehensive guide from
which to teach one’s self to be a nurse but to help in the practice of treating
others.
In her introduction to the 1974 edition, Joan Quixley, then head of the
Nightingale School of Nursing, wrote that despite the passage of time since
Notes on Nursing was published, “the book astonishes one with its relevance
to modern attitudes and skills in nursing, whether this be practised at home by
the ‘ordinary woman’, in hospital or in the community. The social, economic
and professional differences of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in no
way hinder the young student or pupil from developing, if he or she is
motivated to do so, its unchanged fundamentals by way of intelligent thought
and practice”. “With its mid-nineteenth century background of poverty, neglect,
ignorance and prejudice the book was a challenge to contemporary views of
nursing, of nurses and of the patient”. “The book was the first of its kind ever
to be written. It appeared at a time when the simple rules of health were only
beginning to be known, when its topics were of vital importance not only for
the well-being and recovery of patients, when hospitals were riddled with
infection, when nurses were still mainly regarded as ignorant, uneducated
persons. The book has, inevitably, its place in the history of nursing, for it was
written by the founder of modern nursing”.
The book included advice and practices for the following areas:
 ventilation and warming

 health in houses
 petty management (how things are done by others when you must be
away)
 noise
 variety (environment)
 taking food and what kinds of food
 bed and bedding
 light
 cleanliness of rooms
 personal cleanliness
 chattering hopes and advices (the false assurances and recommendations
of family and friends to the sick)
 observation of the sick
Nursing Research
Description
 Research is a quest for an answer to a question.
 Knowing the answer to a question requires a scientific method and not
merely asking from various persons or merely observing several situations
that may out-rightly provide haphazard answers to posed questions.
 Systematic process of collecting and analyzing information in order to
increase our understanding of the phenomenon about which we are
concerned or interested.
 Is a careful, systematic study and investigation in some fields of
knowledge undertaken to discover or establish facts or principles.
 The scientific method of doing a research may be briefly stated in these
steps:
Step 1. Identify the problem
A research originates from a problem, an unanswered question or an
unsolved problem. An inquisitive person sparks the conduct of knowing why
things go wrong or unusual that in some ways those may affect human life.
Step 2. Limit the problem

The problem may be very broad. Try to focus, know the scope, established
boundaries, set the breadth or make a demarcation line so that you will know
what are included and what are excluded. This will ultimately make your study
manageable or specific.
Step 3. Formulate Hypothesis

Hypothesis is a brilliant conjecture or a tentative solution to a problem. It is
testable statement of a resolution to a verifiable question. Some studies use
the term assumption to mean the expected outcome of an investigation or
inquiry.
Step 4. Collect Data

Implausible statements shall be supported by factual, unbias, truthful, and
convincing evidences gathered through the execution of a carefully devised
plan. The preponderance of needed information will make a genuine research.
Step 5. Interpret Data and Make a Conclusion
Extract meanings from tabulated, collated, sifted or organized data. Data will
be meaningless if you will not deduce meanings or generalizations from them.
Statistical tools may aid you in measuring the significance of one factor to
another. The researcher may evaluate, accept, reject, decide or conclude
based on the data gathered.
Pure versus Applied Research

 Pure or basic research is a study oriented towards the development of a
theory. It aims to provide knowledge or understanding.
 Applied research is an investigation that enriches a solution to a practical
problem. It seeks to improve human condition by providing knowledge that
can be used for practicalapplication.
Qualitative versus Quantitative Research
 Qualitative Research is undertaken to answer questions about the plethora
of phenomena primarily aimed at giving attributes and understanding of
nature based on the observer’s view point. It also inquires on context and
meaning, embarks on content analysis observation.
 Quantitative Research is conducted to find answers to questions about
relationships among measurable variables with purpose of explaining,
controlling, and predicting phenomena. It is knowing the outcome stated in
numerical data.
FEATURE QUANTITATIVE QUALITATIVE
 To explain and predict  To describe and explain

Purpose  To confirm and validate  To explore and interpret
 To test theory  To build theory
 Focused  Holistic
 Known variables  Unknown variables
 Established guidelines  Flexible guidelines
 Static design  Emergent design
Process  Context-free  Context-bound
 Detached view  Personal view
 Representative
Data Collection  Large sample  Informative, small sample
 Standardized instruments  Observations, interviews
Data Analysis
 Deductive analysis  Inductive analysis
 Words
 Narratives
 Numbers  Individual quotes
Report of findings  Statistics, aggregated data  Personal voice
 Formal voice, scientific style.  Library style.
COMPARATIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF
QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCHES

Notes On Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not

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Nursing Research

Notes on Nursing: What it is and

 ventilation and warming

Step 2. Limit the problem

Step 3. Formulate Hypothesis

Step 4. Collect Data

Pure versus Applied Research

 To explain and predict  To describe and explain

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