Assessment Research in Nursing Education: The Case for Q Methodology

Abstract

Despite the rhetoric emphasizing the need to become evidence-based practitioners,
most nursing educational practice is still not based on comprehensive,
cumulative, or robust evidence. The reasons for this are multiple and
involve both methodological and pragmatic issues. Applied research in
the fields of nursing education takes place in real time and in changing
contexts, over which full control is impossible. The purpose of this
discussion is to present the key challenges facing educational
outcomes-assessment researchers and to call for the increased use of Q
methodology in nursing education scholarship. Q methodology is able to
tease out prevalent discourses and subjectivities and provide invaluable
insight into the various views held by stakeholders. Indeed, it might
invite an opportunity to include a largely forgotten voice in nursing
educational outcomes-assessment research: the patient. Following a brief
review of Q methodology in educational research, research is proposed
that would include Q methodology to inform nursing curricula and build
more active collaborations between academia and clinical practice.