Developing the research capacity of departments of nursing and midwifery based in higher education: a review of the literature

Abstract

The purpose of this literature review is to identify those factors which might affect the research capacity of departments of nursing based in higher education, and to make recommendations based upon the findings to enable departments to develop their capacity to undertake research. There is a dearth of published research which directly addresses this issue and therefore publications were reviewed which related to: the impact on nurse educators of the integration of nursing into higher education; nurse educators' attitudes towards research and their research role; analysis of the results of the 1992 and 1996 Research Assessment Exercises and commentaries on them; developing research within nursing generally; and factors affecting research productivity within nursing and related disciplines. The papers were analysed according to the following themes: academic qualifications; research skills; time available for research; motivation to undertake research; a culture of research; subject specialization; subject areas for research; research quality; and a nursing research council. The conclusions are first, that whilst there is a dearth of literature which relates directly to research capacity development in academic departments of nursing, there is much advice which can be drawn upon. Second, the article concludes that the factors affecting research capacity development are numerous and complex and it is not something which can only take place at the departmental level. There are also issues which require consideration nationally, as well as factors which depend upon the individual academic, and these impact upon the research capacity of academic departments of nursing. The factors are summarized at the end of the paper in the conclusions and recommendations.

Coursework master’s programmes: the student’s experience of research and research supervision

“…However, there is an opposite view that coursework master's students should complete a research study, not only for the development of professional practice but also to enable the students to develop a comprehensive and realistic understanding of research. There is an argument that simply offering programmes that develop an understanding of research methodologies, without the completion of a research dissertation, may reduce the ability of graduates to undertake or understand research following graduation (Clifford 1997;Cooke and Green 2000;Hardwick and Jordan 2002). Even though the majority of graduates from coursework masters' programmes will not follow a career in research, there are, it is argued, many gains to be made by completing a research dissertation.…”

“…One argument espoused is that simply offering programmes that develop an understanding of research methodologies, without the completion of a research thesis, will significantly reduce the amount of research being undertaken by graduates, and their ability to undertake or understand research following graduation (Clifford, 1997;Cooke and Green 2000;Hardwick and Jordan 2002). On the other hand, it is questionable whether every graduate from masters' programmes will be required to carry out research in their professional roles.…”

“…On the other hand, it is questionable whether every graduate from masters' programmes will be required to carry out research in their professional roles. Even in the university sector there is a move toward the development of teaching-only posts, with a select number of staff identified as researchers (Cooke and Green 2000;Skilbeck 2001). There is also a move in some quarters in the USA toward an emphasis on research utilisation in professional practice, with a de-emphasis on the master's thesis (Smith, Erkel, and Stroud 2002).…”

Building human resources management capacity for university research: The case at four leading Vietnamese universities

“…Developing staff means providing them with conditions favourable to upgrading their research competencies and sustaining their research motivation (Cooke and Green 2000;Calma 2010). Most importantly, universities need to consider the management of staff research careers as an institutional responsibility (Connell 2004).…”

The challenges facing healthcare lecturers and professors to lead and promote a research-based culture for practice

“…There seem to be a paucity of formal studies addressing specifically the teaching of research (Overfield and Duffy, 1984;Kim et al, 2009), with an increasing number of papers recognising the need for research capacity building among nursing and AHP lecturers (Cooke and Green, 2000;Rafferty et al, 2003;Green et al, 2007) . With the advent of clinical academic careers for nurses, midwives and AHPs, lecturers and professors are key to ensuring students are nurtured into a research-based culture early in their careers and helped to sustain this throughout their careers through their continuing professional development.…”