All nurses must participate in the advancement of the profession through knowledge development, evaluation, dissemination, and application to practice. Knowledge development relies chiefly, though not exclusively, upon research and scholarly inquiry. Nurses engage in scholarly inquiry in order to expand the body of knowledge that forms and advances the theory and practice of the discipline in all its spheres. Nurse researchers test existing and generate new nursing knowledge. Nursing knowledge draws from and contributes to corresponding sciences and humanities.

Nurse researchers may involve human participants in their research, as individuals, families, groups, communities, or populations. In such cases, nursing research conforms to national and international ethical standards for the conduct of research employing human participants. Community consultation can help to ensure enhanced protection, enhanced benefits, legitimacy, and shared responsibility for members of communities during all phases of the research process. Additionally, when research is conducted with the use of animals, all appropriate ethical standards are observed.

Nurses take care to ensure that research is soundly constructed, significant, worthwhile, and in conformity with ethical standards including review by an Institutional Review Board prior to initiation. Dissemination of research findings, regardless of results, is an essential part of respect for the participants. Knowledge development also occurs through the process of scholarly inquiry, clinical and educational innovation, and interprofessional collaboration. Dissemination of findings is fundamental to ongoing disciplinary discourse and knowledge development.

Nurses remain committed to patients/participants throughout the continuum of care and during their participation in research. Whether the nurse is data collector, investigator, member of an institutional review board, or care provider, the patients’ rights and autonomy must be honored and respected. Patients’/participants’ welfare may never be sacrificed for research ends.