Curriculum
Faculty

See the IU School of Nursing Graduate Program Bulletin for a complete list of offerings.

 Core Courses

• NURS-D 602 Responsible Conduct of Research (1 cr.) Students will develop knowledge regarding the responsible conduct of research, including conflict of interest, responsible authorship, policies for handling misconduct, data management, data sharing, policies regarding the use of animals and/or human subjects, and institutional vs. individual responsibilities for scientific integrity. This meets the NIH requirements for instruction of pre- and postdoctoral fellows.
• NURS-D 607 Theoretical Perspectives of Nursing Science (3 cr.) This course focuses on comparison of philosophical approaches to knowledge development. Emphasis will be on concepts as building blocks of theory and approaches to concept development and analysis for theory development.
• NURS-D 608 Middle Range Theory (3 cr.) This course focuses on evaluation of theory, the utility of theories in research, and the influence of various theoretical perspectives on research strategies. Emphasis is on midrange, multidisciplinary theories relevant to nursing research.
• NURS-D 609 State of the Science Seminar (2 cr.) P: NURS-D 607. This course focuses on increasing the students' understanding of how knowledge has developed relevant to their phenomena of interest. Each student will develop skills needed to critically analyze and synthesize relevant literature in the area of a specific phenomenon. Special emphasis is placed on the application on critical analysis and synthesizing skills.

• NURS-D 701 Nursing Inquiry and Scholarship: Introduction to Doctoral Study (3 cr.) P: Admission to the Ph.D. program. C: NURS-D 607. Examination and development of knowledge, skills, and strategies to support critical and creative thinking, identification of research and evaluation interests, socialization, and development of scholarship in nursing.
• NURS-D 751 Advanced Topics in Nursing Science (3 cr.) P: Admission to the Ph.D. program. This course provides an evaluation of models, theories, methods and research that supports strategic learning, knowledge work and knowledge translation in complex systems.
• NURS-D 752 Directed Research Practicum (3 cr.) P: Admission to the Ph.D. program. C: Linked in curriculum to NURS-D 751 but need not be taken concurrently. Students will develop research skills through directed study and supervised research experience. Learning is related to a NURS-D 751 focus course and the student's interest area. Multidisciplinary research experience may include, but is not limited to, pilot-testing and evaluating research methods, data collection, data analysis, and secondary analysis of existing datasets relevant to the student's research interests. This course may be taken more than once.
• NURS-G 901 Advanced Research (Independent Study) (6 cr.) Individual assignments arranged for doctoral students.
• NURS-R 601 Instrumentation and Measurement (3 cr.) P: NURS-R 603, NURS-R 604, or consent of faculty. This course provides an opportunity for the student to develop expertise in developing and testing the psychometric properties of an instrument to measure health-related phenomena. Content focuses on theoretical foundations of measurement, item construction, questionnaire design, and content analysis, item analysis, assessment of reliability and validity, accuracy and precision, and manuscript preparation to report psychometric properties.
• NURS-R 603 Foundations of Quantitative Research (3 cr.) P: Doctoral students with a graduate course in research design in methods. This course is intended for students enrolled in a doctoral program who have had a graduate course in research design and methods. The focus of this course is an in-depth critique of quantitative research designs and methods including those used to test interventions. In depth critique of strengths of limitations of quantitative research will lead to development of a research study to evaluate a phenomenon of interest.
• NURS-R 605 Design and Applications of Advanced Research Designs/Interventions (3 cr.) P: NURS-R 603, NURS-R 604. Evaluates and applies issues relevant to intervention research and health services research. Content will include intervention dosage, sensitivity, mediators and moderators, and quality assurance and feasibility of intervention delivery. Translational research, multisite research, intent-to-treat, nested designs, and outcome designs will be discussed for application.
• NURS-R 610 Foundations of Qualitative Research (3 cr.) The focus of this course is on in-depth critique of the quality indicators for qualitative research designs. Designs, sampling methods, data collection methods, and analysis methods are evaluated for credibility, neutrality, consistency and usefulness of findings. In addition, the consistency among research questions, purpose, design, data analysis and conclusions are examined.
• NURS-R 611 Advanced Qualitative Research Methods (3 cr.) P: NURS-R 500, NURS-R 603, NURS-R 610, or consent of faculty. Elective course provides context for deeper analysis of selective qualitative methodologies. Critical skills include developing research questions appropriate for selected methodologies and defending methodological choice. Students refine and conduct a pilot research project, including IRB submission, data collection/analysis, application of quality criteria, and preparation of a publishable research report.
• NURS-R 613 Grounded Theory Research (3-3 cr.) P: NURS-R 610 or introductory course in qualitative methods. This course focuses on the methods of grounded theory research within the context of its origins, history and philosophical foundations.
• NURS-R 615 Comparative Effectiveness Research and Patient‐Centered Outcomes Research (CER/PCOR) (3 cr.) This course provides an overview of comparative effectiveness and patient‐centered outcomes research (CER/PCOR). Topics include history, definitions, and key terms;  engaging patients and stakeholders; evidence‐based medicine; health technology assessment; policy issues; government and private sector roles and programs; CER/PCOR funding; role of cost and quality; and methods and standards.
• NURS-R 899 Dissertation in Nursing (1-9 cr.) P: All doctoral coursework and the qualifying exam must be completed. Dissertation research is facilitated through individualized research mentoring. Each semester, goals/objectives and a timeline for work to be accomplished are mutually determined by the student and chair. The student and dissertation chair meet regularly and dissertation committee members are involved as needed to ensure consistent progress.

• NURS-R 900 Continuation in Study or Thesis (1 cr.)Following enrollment in NURS-R 899, the student must enroll every semester and first summer session in NURS-R 900 until the study or thesis has been completed.

• NURS-T 800 Preparing Future Faculty (2 cr.) P: Students should have completed one year of doctoral level coursework.  This course helps students develop competencies as doctorally-prepared educators in academic and other complex organizations. Course concepts include functioning within the educational environment; understanding the relationship between teaching, research/scholarship and service and preparing to be a doctorally prepared member of the faculty.
• NURS-W 540 Writing for Publication (3 cr.) P: Permission of the faculty. This course focuses on writing for publication. The goal is to enable students to gain skill in presenting their ideas for readers of the professional/scientific literature in any discipline. The content of the course is organized to help the student through the process from the conceptualization of an idea to submission of the paper for journal review. Achieving success and overcoming obstacles, such as lack of self-confidence in writing skills and avoidance behavior, will be emphasized. Assignments are designed to facilitate the process, and students will receive personal reviews from faculty at each stage of manuscript development. The end-product will be a paper that is ready for submission for publication.