Results
Data analytic strategy
The first step was replication of the factor structures of the Miller Intuitiveness Instrument (Miller 1995) and Smith’s (2006) Intuition Instrument to assure that the measures were reliable and conformed to the expected factor structures using this sample. Next, the relationship among the three measures of nursing intuition (Miller, Smith and Rew) was examined. Then, the domain-specificity hypothesis was tested by examining the relationships among the measures of intuition preference in nursing and in general. Finally, the experience hypothesis was tested by examining group differences in intuition preference at multiple levels of nursing experience.
Factor analysis of nursing measures
Miller Intuitiveness Instrument (Miller 1995)
Forty-three items were entered into a Principal Components factor analysis with Varimax rotation. Five factors with eigenvalues greater than 1•0 explained a total of 65•12% of the variance. Factor 1 represented Willing to Act (reliance on gut feelings). Factor 2 paralleled Miller’s Skilled Clinician factor. Items loading on Factor 3 were characterised as Innovative (use of innovative approaches to clinical decision making). Factor 4 was comprised of items about a Spiritual sense of connection with patients. Factor 5 was characterised by items related to preference for Abstract topics. In contrast to Miller’s findings, the results of this analysis did not combine Skilled Clinician and Innovative into one factor, and this solution also does not include a risk-taking factor. However, results in this sample are still very similar to the components of intuition predicted by Miller (1995). Scale scores for each factor were created by averaging responses on items that loaded on the factor (Table 1).