Week 2 – discussion 1

Reply in 200 words that you agree or complement the following post:
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The Internal and External Criticism That is Used to Evaluate Middle Range Theories

The Internal and External Criticism That is Used to Evaluate Middle Range Theories

Evaluation of middle-range theories is an important use in advancing the nursing field of study. Middle-range theories are one of the categories of nursing theories and focus on connecting practice and studies in nursing. They are more specific, easy to implement, and have a narrow dimension compared to other categories of nursing grand theories (Smith2019). 

Internal criticism in evaluating middle-range theories defines the internal setup of how distinct elements of a theory unite. On the other hand, external criticism views the link of a concept and its union to well-being, nursing, and individuals. Despite their differences, both views of internal and external criticism must be considered when evaluating. In internal and external criticism, there are criteria to evaluate various approaches. In internal criticism, criteria include assessment, logical development, adequacy, consistency, and clarity external criticism has difficulty, value, scope, and reality of the approach (Peterson,2019). Therefore, things

addressed are whether there is a logical flow in the approach due to several assumptions and whether these assumptions reflect the real world of nursing.

Evaluation of middle-range theories is done by first examining both internal and external criticism. In internal criticism, the first is to determine the clarity of the theory, that if the theory clearly expresses all the main elements of the approach. Assessment done to ensure theory understood before putting it into practice. Consistency is another criterion for giving a good explanation of key concepts. 

Furthermore, logical development is considered to ensure arguments are identified and solved (Drevenhorn2018). On the other hand, to examine external criticism first to determine how difficult the approach is for the reader to understand before implementation. Also, the value is determined to know how theory is to the reader in a nursing field study. The scope is another criterion to ensure that the limited dimension in nursing reality focuses on using a group of ideas.

Additionally, because of the assumptions made by many theorists, the reality is determined to know whether these assumptions reflect the real world of nursing (Risjord2019).

In conclusion, after evaluation, the essence of the middle range theory is determined by how it bears both internal and external criticisms. Considering the approach also, it’s only the theory that meets both internal and external criteria implemented and contributes positively to the field study of nursing. Therefore, well-evaluated theories provide comfort care to the patients in the course study of nursing.