Observations on the neglected concept of intervention in nursing research

In this paper I will examine the concept of researcher intervention in nursing research. I will suggest that the concept is essentially problematic for both positivist and qualitative researchers, which may have some bearing upon its relative neglect as an area for discussion. I will examine the redundancy of the more popular moral frameworks in dealing with the problems raised by intervention and suggest that nursing research, being 'messy', requires the articulation of a more reflexive and contextual approach. This applies both to moral justification and to more pragmatic methodological issues. In the paper I suggest that humanistic action research, informed by recent feminist thinking, has potential to produce a more creative and clinically relevant future for nursing research than is currently so.