The Outcomes Research in Nursing Administration Project: methodological issues in implementation.

This article describes the Outcomes Research in Nursing Administration (ORNA) project--a longitudinal, multisite study investigating the interrelationships of various hospital-level and nursing-unit-level characteristics, nursing unit organizational structure, and administrative and patient outcomes. A variety of methodological challenges were encountered in the actual conduct of the project in relation to the design, sampling plan, management of attrition, and data collection. The article describes these challenges and how they were successfully resolved.