Research in nursing education: state of the science

The purpose of this pilot study was to assess the educational research currently conducted in U.S. schools of nursing. In this article, we describe the results from a small sample of schools of nursing (N = 21) and report the prevalence, type and level of funding for educational research, perceived barriers to developing and conducting rigorous programs of educational research in nursing, and support required. The respondents reported conducting primarily descriptive studies, most of which were underfunded, as well as a variety of barriers to conducting programs of educational research. The findings from this study provide some initial insights into the state of nursing education science in the United States. Despite the small sample, the findings affirm the paucity of research in nursing education and that the discipline must attend to the developmental needs of nurse researchers who study phenomena related to nursing education.