Toward greater specificity in defining nursing's metaparadigm.

The thesis presented is that nursing in its disciplinary context cannot appropriately be considered a concept in the metaparadigm of nursing science. Nursing as a discipline is guided by theories and prescriptions that emanate from puzzles solved in the domain of nursing science. Failure to distinguish between the science of nursing and its disciplinary aspects in building conceptual frameworks will retard the growth of science. The merits of three competing paradigms--normal science, historical facts, and social facts-are discussed. None of these paradigms is adequate for discovery in nursing science. Efforts to develop knowledge around the phenomena of central concern to nursing may advance more rapidly if theory building follows a set of rules, as yet undefined, that incorporates the methods of both normal science and historical tradition.