Connecting Theory, Knowledge, and Practice: A Review of Action Research for Nurses

Nurses are faced with everyday demands to improve practices, yet using research to develop and apply theory, knowledge, and practices is a task fraught with challenges to the nursing profession. McDonnell and McNiff (2016) offer a practical guide for novice nursing practitioners and researchers to understand and conduct action research. Keywords: Nursing, Action Research, Practice, Critical In my daily encounter with educational and medical professionals, I often hear stories about practitioners getting swamped by their overwhelming amount of workloads and competing demands. In particular, despite the fact that nurses always strive to provide quality care to their patients, they struggle with how to improve their daily practices. How can nurses use theory and research to improve services? How can their practices contribute to the advancement of nursing theory and knowledge? McDonnell and McNiff's (2016) Action Research for Nurses may provide some hints for nurses to reclaim their profession and restore their practices. McDonnell and McNiff (2016) open the book with an eight-page introduction that one must not miss. It guides you through a thorough reflection on the formulation, acquisition, and usage of knowledge in nursing research. It also offers some critical analyses on the political issues faced in nursing practice and research in the contemporary United Kingdom. Against the backdrop of systemic failure and political dilemmas found in the medical field, McDonnell and McNiff encourage nurses to engage in action research to "investigate their practices as reflective practitioners" (p. 6) and "appreciate that developing themselves as researchers is perfectly achievable and beneficial" (p. 7). The main body of the book is divided into three parts, which describe the theory, processes, and significance of action research, respectively. Part I provides the theoretical background and rationales for conducting action research. Chapters 1 and 2 provide a review of the epistemological bases of knowledge, the socio-historical development of the profession, and a critical reflection of contemporary practices that gives strong rationales for engaging in action research for practical, social, and emancipatory purposes. Not explicitly stated, action research described in the book is certainly influenced by critical paradigms. Throughout the book, McDonnell and McNiff (2016) emphasize the political intents of conducting research and using findings to make changes. They also advocate for an acute awareness to interrogate the social, historical, and political contexts where research and knowledge situate. Chapter 3 delineates the nature of ethics in action research as local, situated, and lived, which demands critical reflections of researcher positionality. Part II describes strategies for planning and designing an action research project, offering hands-on advice on research issues commonly found in real-life settings. Chapter 4 explains how researchers should be prepared to deal with different organizational issues and academic demands. Chapter 5 describes guiding questions that help researchers to design and implement action plans. Chapter 6 elucidates the needs to gather data on the learning and actions of researchers and other participants. Chapter 7 describes considerations of how to generate evidence and evaluate research. Part III is focused on organizing, representing, and disseminating research findings. …