Research in nursing education: assumptions and priorities

The purposes of this study were: to identify assumptions about the nature of research in nursing education, and to identify and rank order critical research questions regarding nursing education. The Delphi survey technique was used with 121 nurse educators responding to three survey rounds. The panel concurred with the assumptions that research in nursing education can and should meet criteria for scientific merit, should not be viewed as secondary in importance to nursing practice research, should emphasize the clinical nature of nursing, and needs to be less fragmented. Priorities for research included the following topics: integration of research findings into nursing curricula, development of problem solving skills, approaches to clinical teaching, and level of practice of graduates of different basic preparations.