Purpose.The purpose of this article is to describe action research in nursing education and to propose a definition of action research\nfor providing guidelines for research proposals and criteria for assessing potential publications for nursing higher education.\nMethods.The first part of this project involved a search of the literature on action research in nursing higher education from 1994\nto 2013. Searches were conducted in the CINAHL and MEDLINE databases. Applying the criteria identified, 80 publications were\nreviewed.The second part of the project involved a literature review of action research methodology from several disciplines to assist\nin assessing articles in this review. Results. This article summarizes the nursing higher education literature reviewed and provides\nprocesses and content related to four topic areas in nursing higher education.The descriptions assist researchers in learning more\nabout the complexity of both the action research process and the varied outcomes. The literature review of action research in many\ndisciplines along with the review of action research in higher education provided a framework for developing a nursing-education centric\ndefinition of action research. Conclusions. Although guidelines for developing action research and criteria for publication\nare suggested, continued development of methods for synthesizing action research is recommended.
Loading....