NR 501 Nursing Theory Question And
Answers
Assumptions - -beliefs about phenomena one must accept as true to accept a theory about the
phenomena as true.
- Borrowed or shared theory - -a theory developed in another discipline that is not adapted to the
worldview and practice of nursing.
- Concept - -the elements or components of a phenomenon necessary to understand the
phenomenon. They are abstract and derived from impressions the human mind recieves about
phenomena through sensing the environment.
- Conceptual model/conceptual framework - -a set of interrelated concepts that symbolically
represents and conveys a mental image of a phenomenon. Conceptual models of nursing identify
concepts and describe their relationships to the phenomena of central concern to the discipline.
- Construct - -the most complex type of concept. They comporise more than one concept and are
typically built or constructed by the theorist or philosopher to fit a purpose. "Concept" and
"Construct" are often used interchangeably, but all constructs are concepts, but not all concepts are
constructs.
- Empirical indicator - -Very specific and concrete identifiers of concepts. They are actual
instructions, experimental conditions, and procedures used to observe or measure the concept(s) of
a theory.
- Epistemology - -theories of knowledge or how people come to have knowledge; in nursing, it is
the study of the origins of nursing knowledge.
- Hypotheses - -tentative suggestions that a specific relationship exists between two concepts or
propositions. As the hypothesis is repeatedly confirmed, it progresses to an empirical generalization
and ultimately to a law.
- Knowledge - -an awareness or perception of reality acquired through insight, learning, or
investigation.
- Laws - -proposition about the relationship between concepts in a theory that has been
repeatedly validated. They are highly generalizable.
- Metaparadigm - -the global perspective that subsumes more specific views and approaches to
the central concepts with which the discipline is concerned. It is an ideology within which the
theories, knowledge, and processes for knowing find meaning and coherence.
- Middle range theory - -a part of a disciplines's concerns related to particular topics which is
narrower than that of broad-range or grand theories.
Answers
Assumptions - -beliefs about phenomena one must accept as true to accept a theory about the
phenomena as true.
- Borrowed or shared theory - -a theory developed in another discipline that is not adapted to the
worldview and practice of nursing.
- Concept - -the elements or components of a phenomenon necessary to understand the
phenomenon. They are abstract and derived from impressions the human mind recieves about
phenomena through sensing the environment.
- Conceptual model/conceptual framework - -a set of interrelated concepts that symbolically
represents and conveys a mental image of a phenomenon. Conceptual models of nursing identify
concepts and describe their relationships to the phenomena of central concern to the discipline.
- Construct - -the most complex type of concept. They comporise more than one concept and are
typically built or constructed by the theorist or philosopher to fit a purpose. "Concept" and
"Construct" are often used interchangeably, but all constructs are concepts, but not all concepts are
constructs.
- Empirical indicator - -Very specific and concrete identifiers of concepts. They are actual
instructions, experimental conditions, and procedures used to observe or measure the concept(s) of
a theory.
- Epistemology - -theories of knowledge or how people come to have knowledge; in nursing, it is
the study of the origins of nursing knowledge.
- Hypotheses - -tentative suggestions that a specific relationship exists between two concepts or
propositions. As the hypothesis is repeatedly confirmed, it progresses to an empirical generalization
and ultimately to a law.
- Knowledge - -an awareness or perception of reality acquired through insight, learning, or
investigation.
- Laws - -proposition about the relationship between concepts in a theory that has been
repeatedly validated. They are highly generalizable.
- Metaparadigm - -the global perspective that subsumes more specific views and approaches to
the central concepts with which the discipline is concerned. It is an ideology within which the
theories, knowledge, and processes for knowing find meaning and coherence.
- Middle range theory - -a part of a disciplines's concerns related to particular topics which is
narrower than that of broad-range or grand theories.
