An inventory of nursing education research.

PURPOSE To describe nursing education research literature in terms of quality, content areas under investigation, geographic location of the research, research designs utilized, sample sizes, instruments used to collect data, and funding sources. DESIGN AND METHODS Quantitative and qualitative research literature published between January 1991 and December 2000 were identified and classified using an author-generated Relevance Tool. FINDINGS 1286 articles were accepted and entered into the inventory, and an additional 22 were retained as references as they were either literature reviews or meta-analyses. Not surprisingly, 90% of nursing education research was generated in North America and Europe, the industrialised parts of the world. Of the total number of articles accepted into the inventory, 61% were quantitative research based. The bulk of the research was conducted within the confines of a course or within a program, with more than half based in educational settings. Sample sizes of the research conducted were diverse, with a bare majority using a sample between 50 and 99 participants. More than half of the studies used questionnaires to obtain data. Surprising, 80% of the research represented in these articles was not funded. The number of publications of nursing education research generated yearly stabilised at approximately 120 per year. CONCLUSION Research programs on teaching and learning environments and practice in nursing education need to be developed. Lobbying is needed to increase funding for this type of research at national and international levels.