Mitchell G J, Cody W K
Nurs Sci Q. 1993 Winter;6(4):170-8. doi: 10.1177/089431849300600405.
Increasingly philosophers and scientists have affirmed that all knowledge is theory-laden and that methods are theory-driven. These assertions raise important questions related to the role of theory in qualitative research. There are scholars who propose that qualitative research can enhance understanding and expand theoretical knowledge from a disciplinary perspective. And there are others who contend that qualitative inquiry is purely inductive and that its validity can therefore be judged by the extent to which preconceived theory is absent from it. The purpose of this article is to examine three qualitative methods, grounded theory, ethnography, and phenomenology, and their use in nursing in order to explicate the role of theory in knowledge development. The authors propose that, by nature, inquiry, discovery, and theoretical interpretation coexist simultaneously and must be recognized as such if the theory-research linkage is to advance nursing science through qualitative research.
越来越多的哲学家和科学家断言，所有知识都负载理论，方法由理论驱动。这些论断引发了与理论在定性研究中的作用相关的重要问题。有些学者提出，定性研究可以从学科角度增进理解并扩展理论知识。还有一些人则认为，定性探究纯粹是归纳性的，因此其有效性可以根据其中不存在先入为主理论的程度来判断。本文的目的是考察三种定性方法，即扎根理论、民族志和现象学，以及它们在护理中的应用，以阐明理论在知识发展中的作用。作者们提出，从本质上讲，探究、发现和理论阐释是同时共存的，如果理论与研究的联系要通过定性研究推动护理科学发展，就必须认识到这一点。
