Course Home Page  |  Syllabus  |  Written Assignments  |  Concept Paper Review Assignments

 

Class Objectives and Additional Readings

 

 8/30     I.          What is Knowledge?

 

Objective:         Introduce course goals and priorities; discussion of profession, discipline and knowledge development.  No readings.

  

9/6        II.         Chaos and Complexity

 

Objective:         To analyze a recent theoretical development within empirical approaches to knowledge development.

 

Readings:

Coppa, D. F. (1993). Chaos theory suggests a new paradigm for nursing science.  JAN,18, 985-991.

Johnson, G. (1995). Fire in the mind. New York: Vintage Books.  Chapter 9, In search of complexity, 258-277.

Mark, B.A. (1994).  Chaos theory and nursing systems research.  Theoretic and Applied Chaos in Nursing, 1(1).

Begun, J. (1994). Chaos and complexity: Frontiers of organization science. Management Inquiry, 3 (4), 329-335.

 

9/13      III.        Nursing’s Scientific Knowledge

 

Objective:         Historical Perspective and Overview of Conceptual Domains of Nursing

                        (This will be a shared class with students in GNUR 814--10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. including lunch; place TBA—come to what you can.)

 

Readings:

 

                        Donaldson, S. K. (2000). Breakthroughs in scientific research: The discipline

                        of nursing, 1960-1999.  Annual Review of Nursing Research (18). pp. 247-311.

Hinshaw, A.S. (1992). Response to “structuring the nursing knowledge system: A typology of four domains.” In Nicoll, L. H. (Ed.) Perspectives on nursing theory. New York: J.B. Lippincott. pp. 143-146.

Kim, H.S. (1992). Structuring the nursing knowledge system: A typology of four domains.” In Nicoll, L. H. (Ed.) Perspectives on nursing theory. New York: J.B. Lippincott. Chapter 11, pp. 134-142.

Kulbok, P.A., Gates, M., Schultz, P.R., & Vicenzi, A. (1999). Focus on community: Directions for nursing knowledge development. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 29, 1188-1196.

                        Meleis: Meleis, Chapters 2, 3, 4, 6, 7

 

9/20      IV.        What is a Concept?

 

Objective:         To consider purposes and procedures related to concept analysis and concept development.

 

Readings:

Nightingale, Florence (1984).  On the concept of God.  In M.D. Calabria & J.A. Macrae (Eds), Suggestions for thought (pp. 5-34).  Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

                        Rodgers & Knafl, Concept development in nursing.

                        Paper Guidelines:  Concept Analysis Paper

 

9/27      V.         Knowledge and the Individual

 

Objective:         To distinguish different approaches to the question of  what knowledge is, and to consider specifically, questions related to nursing knowledge.

 

Readings:         Pears, D. (1971).  What is knowledge? New York: Harper Touchbooks.

Belenky et.al. (1986). Women’s ways of knowing. New York: Basic Books, pp 1-20.

Carper:  Fundamental Patterns of Knowing in Nursing, Polifroni, & Welch, pp. 12-19.

 

10/4      VI.        Knowledge and the Tradition

 

Objective:         Through attention to history to explore alternative modes of nursing knowledge development.

 

Readings:

Plato’s Theaetetus. In A plato reader, Levinson, R.B. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Rorty, R. (1991).  Science as solidarity.  Philosophical Papers vol 1: Objectivity,  Relativism, and Truth.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

 

  

10/11    VII.       Reading Day – NO CLASS

 

10/18    VIIl.      Nursing Knowledge Development: Empirical

 

Objective:         To analyze the structural components of nursing theory and selected empirical approaches to knowledge generation.

 

Readings:

                        Omery:  Weiss, Chapter 2, pp. 13-26.

                        Omery:  Riegel et al, Chapter 5  pp. 58-71.

                        Omery:  Harding, Chapter 9, pp. 106-126.

Hempel:  The Function of General Laws in History, Polifroni, & Welch, pp. 179-188.

Gortner:  Nursing Values and Science:  Toward a Science Philosophy, Polifroni, & Welch, pp. 25-33.

Selected readings by Suppe. 

Recommend review of Chapter 4 in Scruton, Subject and object, pp. 43-57.

 

10/25    IX.        Revolutionary/Evolutionary Philosophy of Science

 

Objective:         To understand the roots of contemporary methodological pluralism through an evaluation of the work of Thomas Kuhn and Larry Laudan.

 

Readings:

                        Kuhn: Structure of scientific revolutions.

                        Kuhn:  Objectivity, Value Judgment, and Theory Choice, Polifroni, & Welch, pp. 34-

                                    45.

                        Omery: Kegley Chapter 4, pp. 43-57.

Laudan:  Dissecting the Holist Picture of Scientific Change, Polifroni, & Welch, pp. 105-125.

                        Omery: Fry, Chapter 6, pp. 72-80.

 

11/1      X.         Part I:  Knowledge Development:  Postmodern Considerations

 

Objective:         To consider approaches to knowledge development that contest objectification.

 

Readings:

Benner, P. (1985). Quality of life: A phenomenological perspective on explanation, prediction, and understanding in nursing science.  Polifroni, & Welch, pp. 303-314.

Code, L. (1991).  What can she know? Ithaca: Cornell University Press, pp. 27-70

Keller, E.F. (1996).  Language and ideology in evolutionary theory:  Reading cultural norms into natural law.  In Keller, E.F. & Longino, H.E. (Eds.). Feminism and Science.  Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chapter 10, pp. 154-172.

Kenney: Kim, Chapter 11, pp. 110-120.

Polifroni, & Welch, Chapter 33, pp. 427-439.

 

11/8      XI.        Knowledge Development:  Postmodern Considerations, continued

 

Objective:         To identify selected aspects of phenomenology and hermeneutical inquiry as they relate to nursing knowledge development.

 

Readings:

                        Omery: Omery and Mack, Chapter 11, pp. 139-158.

                        Omery: Steeves and Kahn, Chapter 13, pp. 175-193.

Polifroni & Welch, Chapter 38, pp. 478-490.

Thompson, J. L. Hermeneutic inquiry. In Moody, L.E. (Ed.) Advancing nursing science through research. California: Sage Publications. (this contains a critique of Benner.)

 

11/15    XII.       Part II:  Postmodern Practices: Feminist and Critical Theory

 

Objectives:       To examine feminist and critical theory approaches to knowledge.  To address the relationship between knowledge and power.

 

Readings:

                        Omery: Ginzberg, Chapter 8, pp. 93-105.

Dickson, G.L. (1990).  A feminist poststructuralist analysis of the knowledge of menopause.  Advanced Nursing Science, 12 (3), pp. 15-31.

Harding, S.  (1996).  Gendered ways of knowing and the “epistemological crisis” of the West.  In Goldberger, N. R., Tarule, J. M., Clinchy, B. M., & Belenky, M. F.  (Eds), Knowledge, difference, and power.  Basic Books.  Chapter 14, pp. 431-449.

Kenney: Kendall, Chapter 17, pp. 170-184.

Polifroni & Welch, Chapter 35, pp. 451-461.

Polifroni & Welch, Chapter 36, pp. 462-466.

Rodgers & Knafl:  Weust, Chapter 19.

 

11/22    XIII.      Thanksgiving Week

 

11/29    XIV.      Working Session with Concept Papers

 

12/6      XV.       In Search of Authoritative Authorship

 

Objective:         To discuss your individual projects in relationship to your current understanding of knowledge and knowledge development.  Also, revisit complexity in relationship to this understanding.

 

Readings:        

Newman, M.A. (1997).  Experiencing the whole.  Advanced Nursing Science, 20 (1), pp. 34-39. 

Selected readings on complexity.

 

Course Home Page  |  Syllabus  |  Written Assignments  |  Concept Paper Review Assignments