Literature review on the interrelationship between theory, knowledge, and research

and Evidence-Based Practice
and Evidence-Based Practice
Fawcett and Garity’s (2009) definitions of knowledge, research, and evidence-based practice align with my own understanding of the said terms or concepts. As Fawcett and Garity (2009) asserted, research is the conduct of a search, inquiry, or investigation, with the aim of discovering something. Research then leads to the formulation of theories, and although theories are not always true, they help form knowledge, which then leads to the development of evidence-based practice. More specifically, knowledge refers to everything that is known about something (Fawcett & Garity, 2009) while theory refers to the “ knowledge that is at the relatively precise end of the knowledge spectrum” (p. 4) and evidence-based practice pertains to the clinical decision-making process where the best available evidence is considered. It should also be noted that evidence is obtained from research. As such, this would likewise conform to Webb’s (n. d.) definition of research, which she referred to as “ a process of systematic inquiry or study to build knowledge in a discipline” (p. 106).
In this regard, this interrelationship supports my DNP project, which focuses on how an implementation of a mentoring program helps the retention of nursing faculty, in that the mentoring program is based on evidence regarding effective mentoring strategies, as well as on the accumulated knowledge that has been gained by the mentors who participate in the program. Although this knowledge may not have been gained through the conduct of a formal research, it would still have been obtained from various sources of knowledge, which may also serve as evidence for practice. In particular, these sources of knowledge include tenacity, authority, and a priori, which are usually obtained from the previous experiences and knowledge of the nurses and mentors. In this regard, the nurses’ or mentors’ previous experiences can be considered part of the research process.
Based on these. the evidence and knowledge obtained may be used to develop evidence-based practices with regards to the effective ways of conducting the mentoring program, as well as to determine the appropriate curricula to include in the program, so that the program may yield the intended outcomes.

References

Fawcett, J. & Garity, J. (2009). Chapter 1: Research and evidence-based nursing practice. In
Evaluating research for evidence-based nursing (3-20). F. A. Davis Company.
Webb, J. J. (n. d.). Chapter 6: Nursing research and evidence-based practice. Retrieved from
http://www. coursewareobjects. com/objects/evolve/E2/book_pages/cherry/pdf/SAMPLE.
pdf