Collaborative research between nurses employed in the academic and practice sectors is a cost-effective and innovative way to investigate aspects of clinical practice, articulate clinical and teaching expertise, and extend professional practice knowledge. In collaborative ventures, researchers from different institutional cultures often work together to investigate a particular area of interest. This poses challenges in relation to the perceptions, understandings, and interpretations of the research question and of the mode of inquiry, particularly when investigating through the qualitative paradigm.
The purpose of this article is twofold. The first is to clarify some of the challenges experienced while conducting collaborative research and describe the steps taken to ensure consistency between the purpose of the research and the phenomenological research design used to explore the learning that nursing students acquire in their final clinical practicum. Second, it was thought that by illuminating this learning, registered nurses working as preceptors and those supporting new graduates could gain insight into the complexities of learning the skills of safe and competent practice from the student's perspective. This insight is essential in creating a strategy between education and practice to minimize the duplication of learning opportunities and lessen the cost of supporting newly registered nurses, which may be at the expense of investment in the professional development of experienced registered nurses.
It is widely acknowledged that systematic observation is an important research method, and hence should be a core element in psychology curricula. UK higher education institutions (HEIs) were surveyed about their psychological research methods teaching, and in particular observational research methods. The survey indicated considerable variation across responding HEIs in equipment availability, class size, and preparation and contact time, though there was a degree of consensus in the use of SPSS, identified learning outcomes and assessment strategies. Considerable interest was expressed for the provision of self-contained, relatively short, sets of materials teaching key features of observational research methods, with a preference for the inclusion of developmental psychology video materials. The parallels with the concept of ‘learning object’ are discussed.
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