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I have been following with great interest a discussion initiated by @Natalie_StN on why nursing students dislike research methods. Reading students' responses cemented even more what I have been thinking for some time. I will summarise points and throw in my two cents' worth:
1)“Research methods courses are far removed from practice.” Rather than being forced to learn several methodologies, students should be supported to learn critical appraisal as an essential tool for them to become excellent nurses who will provide best care to patients.
2)Specifically, rather than focusing on the specifics of methods, we need to teach StNs to understand the aim or research question of a study, what was done to answer the research question, and if what was done was good enough to support the study’s results.
3)Once qualified, if they are not sure about best practice in a particular situation, they will need to know how to do a quick search of the literature in order to find the best available and trustworthy evidence to support their practice. IMO this is what we need to teach.
4) “The focus is on complex issues around terminology“. I have seen StNs despairing because they had to read Heidegger; it took my husband (who has a BA&MA in Philosophy) 2 years to understand Heidegger, why should we expect the same for StNs doing a compressed 3-month course?
5)I have found that when StNs were struggling with terminology, the best way was to sit with them and deconstruct terms together, not referring them to yet another complex paper that explains the terminology. Most of the complex terminology can be broken down into simple bits.
6)“Too many numbers and stats”. Stats can be daunting. We should enable students to understand different statistical terms in plain language, and not expect them to learn all possible tests. Ultimately it is about teaching students a “head first” approach when it comes to data.
7)Some of my personal favourite plain language stats resources here: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/head-first-data/9780596806224/ and https://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Statistics-Learning-Pelican-Books/dp/0241398630 and https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/multilevel-modeling-in-plain-language/book235963
8) “I don’t think I am smart enough to get it” – research is not about being smart or smarter than the norm! If you are doing your nursing degree, you are already learning and practising lots of complex stuff, so you are definitely smart enough to do anything else!
9)I think the narrative from us as needs to change to support you and build confidence that you can understand research. I if I can understand it, so can you! The fact that I have a PhD does not make me smarter, I have just gained advanced research skills.
10)I do research for a living, and when it comes to research designs I am less familiar with,I go back to my textbooks. Perhaps we could spend a word or two to make StNs aware that we also don’t know everything and we don’t expect them to either.
11)“We didn’t come into nursing for the research” – of course you didn’t! Neither did I. When I started my nursing degree, I never imagined research would be my career. I went into nursing to improve the health and lives of people
12)And what fascinated me about research is that it would allow me to do exactly that. Through the research that I lead and contribute to, I can make the lives and health of nurses and the patients they care for better.
13)We should support students to see that the goal of research is exactly the same as the goal of nursing. Long thread over, please let me know your thoughts!
