Concept analysis: some limitations and possible solutions

Concepts are the basic building blocks of scientific knowledge or theoretical frameworks for any discipline. The strength of the theories that guide a discipline is dependent on the quality of the concept analysis. Thus, the utilisation of poorly understood concepts in research and theory developmen...

Celý popis

Uloženo v:
Podrobná bibliografie
Vydáno v:Curationis (Pretoria) Ročník 25; číslo 3; s. 23 - 27
Hlavní autor: Botes, A
Médium: Journal Article
Jazyk:angličtina
Vydáno: South Africa AOSIS 01.08.2002
Témata:
Concept Formation
Data Interpretation, Statistical
Health Status Indicators
Humans
Knowledge
Models, Nursing
Nursing Research - methods
Nursing Research - standards
Nursing Theory
Philosophy, Nursing
Professional Autonomy
Quality of Life
Research Design - standards
Surveys and Questionnaires
ISSN:0379-8577, 2223-6279
On-line přístup:Získat plný text
Tagy: Přidat tag
Žádné tagy, Buďte první, kdo vytvoří štítek k tomuto záznamu!
Popis
Shrnutí:Concepts are the basic building blocks of scientific knowledge or theoretical frameworks for any discipline. The strength of the theories that guide a discipline is dependent on the quality of the concept analysis. Thus, the utilisation of poorly understood concepts in research and theory development will result in questionable reliability and validity. Concept analysis is associated with the research design of philosophical inquiry. The purpose of philosophical inquiry is to perform research using intellectual analysis to clarify meaning. Traditionally, no empirical (qualitative or quantitative) investigations were used to clarify the meaning of concepts. The lack of empirical investigation to clarify concepts, results in certain limitations in the methodology of concept analysis. It seems that methodological innovations for enhancing concept analysis is urgently required. The purpose of this article is to describe the utilisation of qualitative and quantitative strategies with literature review in concept analysis as a possible solution to limitations. This article will firstly, describe the limitations in the traditional Wilsonian methods of concept analysis and will secondly demonstrate how the introduction of qualitative and quantitative methods with literature review can overcome some of the limitations. An example a research study on quality of life (Ferrans, 1997:110) will be used to demonstrate how qualitative and quantitative empirical methods with literature review can enhance the quality of concept analysis.
Bibliografie:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0379-8577
2223-6279
DOI:10.4102/curationis.v25i3.779