Quantification and Interpretation of Qualitative Data: An Exploration of Research Method and Epistemology Based on Empirical Nursing Research Part I: Methodological and Epistemological Issues in Conducting Qualitative Clinical Nursing Research

護理研究的發展，在國內可以說已步入起飛階段，然而，護理研究與護理現實( nursing reality)、護理理念的關系，到底應建立何種關系？一直是護理界的潛伏隱 憂。本論文旨在透過質性研究資料的分析方法，探討能夠回歸護理專業特質的一種研 究途逕。本論文將分成二個部份刊登，第一部分先從研究主題之認識學、方法學以及 研究方法的角度，探討國內外推展質性護理研究的背景，進而以臨床護理實際情境爲梗幹，探討以歸納法與演繹分析質性資料的方法，做進一步將質性 研究資料加以量化的基礎。 The development of nursing research in Taiwan seems to have reached the so- called “take-off” stage. Yet the relationships between nursing research, nursing reality and nursing beliefs have remained a hidden concern to the profession. The purpose of this study is to explore a proposed research methodology which can better reconcile nursing research to the nursing empirical world. This paper will be divided into two parts. The first part is a review of the development of qualitative nursing research both in Taiwan and abroad, based on the topics of epistemology, methodology and research method. Using a clinical nursing situation as an empirical world for study, inductive versus deductive approaches in analyzing quantitative research data are presented .