Theoretical Concerns

What is the meaning of theory-guided research? What is it that the theory guides? What role does theory play in the process of qualitative research such as the grounded theory method? These questions are addressed in this issue’s Theo-retical Concerns column. Following this brief introduction Brown (2011) provides a paper that answers these questions with an example of nursing theory-guided research, illustrat-ing how theory guides the thought and decision-making of the research process, and the vital truth that the meaning of research findings are theory based. Unfortunately this is true whether the theory is made explicit or not. Therefore, the challenge is to make the theory explicit so that nursing research has meaning. Theory-guided research has a long tradition in nursing that spans at least 50 years. Over the years nurse scholar