Teaching nursing research through collaboration: costs and benefits

The purpose of this study was to present findings about the costs and benefits derived from a collaborative approach in teaching undergraduate nursing research. Data were collected from students who completed 38 collaborative research projects. The greatest costs were related to time for meeting and maintaining involvement. The greatest benefits reported were enhancement of intellectual stimulation and support received from student peers. Overall the mean for the benefit items (M = 2.82) was greater than the mean for the cost items (M = 2.08). A number of significant differences for costs, benefits, satisfaction, and marks were found related to student group size and type of project. The degree to which the benefits of collaboration were subscribed to by students reflect in part the value students perceived in working together and the advantages of collaboration in learning nursing research. The chief advantages were promotion of a context for research which was congruent with the realities of nursing practice, the complexity and difficulty of clinically oriented research, and the knowledge that nursing research often requires cooperation if findings are to be meaningful and possess implications that can be translated into practice.