GHS3410

Issues in nursing 3: Research

Offered to continuing students only

3 points * 32 hours per semester * First semester * Gippsland * Prerequisites: GHS2420

Objectives Through learning activities during and outside class, this subject will encourage students to use research findings to support practice decisions. Focusing on the role of research in contemporary nursing practice, it teaches you to critically read, research and appreciate the value of research in improving, validating, extending and evaluating nursing practice.

Synopsis This subject emphasises the belief that research skills are fundamental to theoretically sound and clinically sensitive nursing practice. Students will be introduced to the various research approaches commonly used in nursing, for example grounded theory, phenomenology, and case study as methods of collecting qualitative data; action research and feminist research; the scientific method of collecting qualitative data; the principles of research design; and methods of data collection analysis and evaluation, including some basic statistics.

Assessment Essay (1500-2000 words): 50% * Examination: 50%

Recommended texts

It is recommended that students acquire one of the following texts and access others frequently as supplementary texts:
Burns N and Grove S Understanding nursing research Saunders, 1995
LoBiondo-Wood G and Haber J Nursing research: Methods, critical appraisal and utilisation 2nd edn, Mosby, 1994
Nieswiadomy R M Foundations of nursing research 2nd edn, Appleton and Lange, 1993
Polgar S and Thomas S A Introduction to research in the health sciences 3rd edn, Churchill Livingstone, 1995
Polit D and Hungler B Nursing research 5th edn, Lippincott, 1993
Thomas B S Nursing research: An experiential approach Mosby, 1990
Wilson, Holly and Skodal Research in nursing Addison-Wesley, 1993