Doctoral women as passionate scholars: an exploratory inquiry of passionate dissertation scholarship

Advancement in knowledge development comes from novel perspectives and new visions, not from maintaining the status quo. Doctoral programs are mandated to develop nurse scholar-researchers who contribute to the discipline's body of knowledge. Although it stands to reason that doctoral students who are passionate about their dissertation research are more likely to make innovative contributions, there is little written about passionate scholarship in the nursing literature. This article describes an exploratory inquiry involving two focus groups of self-described passionate dissertation scholars. Underlining the passion, participants called passionate scholarship exciting and risky, personally meaningful and socially relevant life's work.