The Process of Theory Building

Theory is, in essence, “the non-empirical process of thinking about knowledge” (Basford and Slevin, 2003, p. 344). Basford and Slevin (2003) are of the opinion that theory building is motivated by the need to develop or come up with worldviews that are meaningful in an attempt to not only define the world we live in, but also enable us to live and function efficiently and effectively in the said world. In making use of nursing models to derive relationships and concepts, we often apply systematic rationalization and intellectual paradigms. In the words of Brink and Wood (1998), inductive and deductive reasoning have variously been used “to designate whether research contributes to theory testing or theory building” (p. 8). As the authors further point out, deductive reasoning is regarded the propelling force behind theory testing. By contrast, however, inductive approaches happen to be “more abstract and general in scope based on ‘soft’ data, less specific, usually exploratory or descriptive designs and qualitative data collection methods for the purpose of building or creating theory” (Brink and Wood, 1998, p. 8).
In my nursing practice area, I would build a theory via an inductive approach, in which case I would first make specific observations about the relevant issues so as to identify precise regularities and/or patterns. Thereafter, I would frame provisional propositions which would be subject to further exploration. This would pave way for the construction of theories or overall conclusions. To test theory in my nursing area, I would work to the specific, from the general – as per the deductive reasoning approach. The deductive approach is “usually empirical, more specific, fact based or ‘hard’ data based, and not abstract” (Brink and Wood, 1998, p. 8). From the theory, I would zoom-in to the testable hypotheses, after which I would make observations with an aim of gathering data to test the said hypothesis. This would help in either i) theory denial or ii) theory confirmation.
Leininger’s Culture Care: Diversity and Universality Theory happens to be one of the key nursing theories described in my textbook. It is important to note, from the onset, that Leininger came up with this particular theory in an attempt to define and account for issues relating to transcultural nursing (Fitzpatrick and Wallace, 2011). According to McFarland (as cited in Fitzpatrick and Wallace, 2011), “the purpose of the theory is to discover human care diversities and universalities, whereas the goal of the theory is to improve and provide culturally congruent care” (p. 246). As per the theory’s construct therefore, the relevance of an individual’s values, practices, as well as beliefs cannot be overstated when it comes to the provision of care measures. Some of the basic tenets of this particular theory, as Sitzman and Eichelberger (2010) point out include, but they are not limited to, cultural care diversity and cultural care universality. While cultural care diversity has got to do with the variances between groups of people in relation to values and the care modes deemed acceptable, cultural care universality concerns itself with “common care or similar meanings that are evident among many cultures” (Sitzman and Eichelberger, 2010, p. 103).
As an example, Leininger’s Culture Care: Diversity and Universality Theory could be applied in any nursing care setting in which case the focus ought to ensure that patients access nursing care that is culturally congruent. For instance, a nurse could be seen to be offering culturally competent care to an immigrant or refugee by seeking to find out from such a patient what his or her cultural preferences as well as practices are. Information gleaned from such an exchange could then be incorporated into the patient’s care plan.
References
Basford, L. & Slevin, O. (Eds.). (2003). Theory and Practice of Nursing: An Integrated Approach to Caring Practice (2nd ed.). Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes.
Brink, P.J. & Wood, M.J. (1998). Advanced Design in Nursing Research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE.
Fitzpatrick, J.J. & Wallace, M. (Eds.). (2011). Encyclopedia of Nursing Research (3rd ed.). New York: Springer Publishing Company.
Sitzman, K. & Eichelberger, L.W. (2010). Understanding the Work of Nurse Theorists: A Creative Beginning (2nd ed.).Boston: Jones & Bartlett Learning.