The ambiguous role of the nurse educator: baccalaureate faculty workload and its impact on research activities.

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of baccalaureate faculty workload on the opportunity and ability of Nursing; faculty to undertake scholarly research. Inherent in this study were the perceptions of baccalaureate Nursing; faculty concerning the concepts of role conflict and role ambiguity and their effects on the pursuit and production of professional research. The study was conducted by mailing an 18 item questionnaire to 116 baccalaureate faculty members in three colleges of Nursing; situation in state university medical centers in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. There was a 58% return rate from the questionnaires. The data were analyzed statistically using chi-square, Kruskal-Wallis Anova, Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranked, and Mann-Whitney U tests as well as frequencies to determine what impact the workload might have on the production of Nursing; research. The results of the study indicate three important findings. First, and most significant, is that the faculty surveyed reported that they generally do not fulfill well the three requirements of teaching, research, and community service traditionally expected in the university setting. Second, role conflict and role ambiguity were validated statistically as contributors to the low level of research produced. The third prominent finding was that the faculty members in this study met the description of typical baccalaureate faculty members referred to in the literature.