In view of the rapid increase in the number of graduate programs in nursing administration, the centrality of research in these programs and the need for sound research upon which to base the science and practice of nursing administration, the specific aims of the proposed study are: 1) development of a sound, supportable definition of nursing service administration research; 2) clarification of what nursing service administration research is currently underway in academic and practice settings; 3) specification of the most significant problems in nursing administration that should be investigated; 4) description of the perceived value of the researchable problems for nursing administration; 5) description of the perceived impact of the research priorities upon patient welfare; and 6) description of the perceived impact of the research priorities upon nurses' welfare. The study is expected to: generate a supportable definition of nursing service administration research which can function as a heuristic for future research and curriculum planning; hasten future research that clarifies nursing's unique contribution to administrative theories, and tests and extends nursing theories which describe, explain and predict processes whereby nurses facilitate health behavior; provide a clear sense of research priorities and stimulate future studies in the priority areas; and increase productive communication among nursing administration faculty and practitioners. Three qualitative forecasting techniques will be utilized--brainstorming, Delphi, and scenario building. In conjunction with the American Nurses' Association convention, nursing administration council members will pilot the Delphi questionnaire and will brainstorm to formulate a list of potential definitions of nursing service administration research. The definitions will be rated by 150 national nursing and health administration experts, as will the delineated research problems. Descriptive statistics will be used for each round. The scenario exercise will utilize Delphi data to identify long-term goals for nursing administration research generation, dissemination and policy.
