By employing a mixed-methods approach, the emerging themes
from the qualitative data were mapped against the quantitative findings.
This provided some valuable and interesting insights into
nurses' views on the barriers affecting their ability to undertake research
and the need for organisational culture and infrastructure
changes. Issues revolved around time constraints and the lack of
organisational support which restricted nurses' ability to engage in
research as co-investigators. This in turn impacted upon their ability
to transfer their knowledge and skills in collaborative research.
Whilst, the findings cannot be generalised to the entire clinical nursing
population in the country, the sample provides a representative
account of nurses' experiences in the research process in Singapore.
Evidently, research knowledge especially in terms of research terminologies,
methodologies and methods were not severely lacking
amongst many of these nurses. For this reason, barriers to nurses
conducting research cannot be attributed to the lack of fundamental
research knowledge and skills alone. The complexities of the research
process are compounded by the complexities of practice working responsibilities
in the clinical environment and these factors need to be
addressed to negate barriers and to allay fears amongst nurses in undertaking
research.