Exploring Nursing Theory Development: Key Concepts and Relationships

1. Chapter 4 Theory Development: Structuring Conceptual Relationships in Nursing

2. Theory Development—Overview • Theories are systematic explanations of events in which: • Concepts are identified. • Relationships are proposed. • Predictions are made.

3. Theory Development—Overview—(cont.) • Theories are invented to: • Describe or explain phenomena • Solve problems • Improve practice

4. Question Theory development in nursing seeks which of the following? A. Understand practice. B. Identify and express ideas. C. Organize existing knowledge. D. All of the above

5. Answer D. All of the above Rationale: Theory development helps nursing to understand practice, provides a method for identifying and expressing key ideas, helps organize existing knowledge, and makes new discoveries to advance the practice of nursing.

6. Theory Development—Overview—(cont.) • Theory development is the process used to create, modify, or refine a theory. • Theory development involves a number of stages. • Start with concept analysis. • Concepts are refined. • How concepts are related are proposed. • Propositions are tested.

7. Relationship among levels of theory. (From Walker, L. O., & Avant, K. C. [2011]. Strategies for theory construction in nursing [5th ed.]. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Reprinted by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ.)

8. Types of Theory • Descriptive—describe, observe, and name concepts • Explanatory—describe relationships between concepts • Predictive—describe causal or consequential relationships • Prescriptive—prescribe activities to reach goals

9. Components of a Theory • Purpose • Concepts and conceptual definitions • Theoretical statements • Structure and linkages • Assumptions • Models

10. Components of a Theory—(cont.) • Purpose—why the theory was formulated; specifies the context or situation in which it should be applied

11. Components of a Theory—(cont.) • Concepts and conceptual definitions • Theoretical definitions—description of the phenomenon • Operational definitions—identification of empirical referents

12. Components of a Theory—(cont.) • Theoretical statements • Explain the relationship between concepts • Connect concepts • Several types • Propositions • Laws • Axioms • Hypotheses

13. Question Tell whether the following statement is true or false: Propositions and hypotheses are written to identify relationships between concepts.

14. Answer True Rationale: In theories, hypotheses and propositions are types of statements that describe or explain relationships between and among concepts.

15. Components of a Theory—(cont.) • Theoretical statements—(cont.) • Existence statements—name a concept or make claims or clarify a concept (may be true or false) • Relational statements—assert that a relationship exists between two or more concepts • Correlational statements • Causal statements

16. Components of a Theory—(cont.) • Structure and linkages • Logical arrangement of concepts and relational statements • Generally descriptive explanation (written) • Arrangement leads to hypotheses

17. Components of a Theory—(cont.) • Assumptions • Statements that are taken to be true without proof • Can be argued philosophically

18. Components of a Theory—(cont.) • Models • Schematic representations of an aspect of reality • May be objects, diagrams, geometric formulas, or words

19. Relationship Among Theory, Research, and Practice • Theory and research • Research validates and modifies theory; theories identify research questions. • Theory and practice • Theory guides practice; practices shapes theory. • Research and practice • Research promotes effective practice; practice identifies problems for research.

20. Research–theory–practice cycle.

21. Approaches to Theory Development • Theory to practice to theory • An existing theory (borrowed or shared) is identified. • Components are analyzed for use in new context based on observation and experience. • Concepts, assumptions, and propositions are redefined, and a new “nursing” theory developed.

22. Approaches to Theory Development—(cont.) • Practice to theory • Theory is inductively derived from clinical situations. • Process uses grounded theory methodologies. • Researcher observes and analyzes phenomenon. • Researcher compares defining concepts and proposes relationships or linkages.

23. Approaches to Theory Development—(cont.) • Research to theory • Theory is a product of findings from repeated research. • Theories evolve from confirmed research findings. • Patterns are identified from research.

24. Approaches to Theory Development—(cont.) • Theory to research to theory • Theory drives the research questions, and results modify the theory. • Objective is theory testing.

25. Process of Theory Development • Concept development • Statement development • Theory construction • Theory testing • Theory application

26. Process of Theory Development—(cont.) • Concept development • Concepts are the building blocks of the theory. • In theory development, must create conceptual meaning • Involves defining and clarifying the concepts

27. Process of Theory Development—(cont.) • Statement development—Statements are the “skeletons” of the theory. • Statement development • Empirical referent identification

28. Process of Theory Development—(cont.) • Theory construction—developing the formal theoretical structure • Structure and contextualize the theory’s components. • Identify and define the concepts and assumptions. • Clarify the context in which the theory is placed. • Design relationship statements.

29. Question Which of the following would NOT be a component of the process of theory construction? Identify and define the concepts. Specify linkages between/among the concepts. Contextualize the theory. Review the theoretical literature.

30. Answer D. Review the theoretical literature. Rationale: This step should have been done prior to beginning the process of theory development.

31. Process of Theory Development—(cont.) • Theory testing—process of testing theoretical relationships • Name and define empirical indicators. • Validate relationships through research.

32. Process of Theory Development—(cont.) • Theory application—assess how theory is applied in practice • Select a setting for application. • Determine outcome variables or practice goals for application of the theory. • Implement a method to examine the theoretical relationships.