Assigned a concept analysis and unsure whether to follow Walker and Avant or Rodgers? This guide takes graduate nursing students through choosing a concept, deriving attributes from the literature, writing model, borderline and contrary cases, and finishing with antecedents, consequences and empirical referents.
If you have been assigned a concept analysis and cannot tell whether your attributes come from the literature or from your own opinion, this guide is for you. It is written for master's and doctoral nursing students working on a theory course paper, a dissertation chapter or a journal article. It explains how to choose a concept, which method to follow, and how to build each element so the paper reads as a rigorous piece of scholarship rather than a list of definitions.
Nursing uses many words that everyone recognizes and few people define in the same way: resilience, presence, advocacy, moral distress, readiness. A concept analysis examines such a word systematically. It asks how the term is used, what makes it distinct from similar terms, what has to happen before it appears, and what follows from it.
Quick answer. Pick a concept that is important, unclear and used in more than one way. Choose a method and follow its steps. Search the literature widely, list the defining attributes that appear repeatedly, illustrate them with cases, identify antecedents and consequences, and finish with how the concept can be measured or observed. Then state what your analysis adds.
A good concept is important to nursing, used inconsistently and not yet analyzed well, or analyzed a long time ago and worth updating. It should also be narrow enough to handle in a single paper.
| Weak choice | Stronger choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Health | Health literacy in older adults | Narrower, more specific to a population and setting |
| Caring | Compassion fatigue | A distinct, contested concept with a defined set of uses |
| Nursing practice | Nurse advocacy for patients at end of life | Specific about who is doing what and for whom |
| A term with an obvious meaning | A term used differently across disciplines | Gives the analysis something to resolve |
Two methods dominate nursing courses. They differ in philosophy, and mixing their steps without saying so is a common source of lost marks.
| Feature | Walker and Avant | Rodgers evolutionary |
|---|---|---|
| View of concepts | A concept can be defined by a stable set of attributes | Concepts are dynamic and change with context and time |
| Approach | Structured, stepwise | Cyclical and inductive, with attention to context |
| Required cases | Model, borderline, related, contrary, invented and illegitimate (as needed) | An exemplar, if appropriate |
| Result | A definition and a set of defining attributes | A picture of the concept's use and development, with implications for research |
| Best for | A course paper that needs a clear, replicable procedure | A concept that is changing or context dependent |
Your course may specify a method. If not, choose the one that matches how you view the concept and say why. See the theory and framework guide for how a completed analysis can feed a framework.
| Step | Task | What to write |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Select a concept | Why it matters and why it needs clarifying |
| 2 | Determine the aims of the analysis | A clear statement of what the analysis is for |
| 3 | Identify all uses of the concept | Dictionary, disciplinary and nursing uses |
| 4 | Determine defining attributes | Characteriztics that appear again and again |
| 5 | Construct a model case | An example that contains all attributes |
| 6 | Construct additional cases | Borderline, related, contrary, invented and illegitimate cases |
| 7 | Identify antecedents and consequences | What comes before and what follows |
| 8 | Define empirical referents | How the concept can be observed or measured |
Whichever method you use, the analysis is only as good as the literature behind it. Search several databases and disciplines, not just nursing, because concepts often travel from psychology, sociology, education or philosophy.
Present the uses in an organized way, by discipline or by period, not as a string of quotes. The systematic review guide explains searching and screening in more detail, and a synthesis matrix helps you record what each source says.
The most common criticizm of a concept analysis is that the attributes look like the author's opinion. The fix is an extraction table that links every attribute to the sources that support it. Build it while you read, not after you write.
| Source | Discipline and year | How the source describes the concept | Candidate attribute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Source 1 | Nursing, recent | Quote or close paraphrase, with page | Label for the idea |
| Source 2 | Psychology, older | Quote or close paraphrase, with page | Same label if the idea matches |
| Source 3 | Education, recent | Quote or close paraphrase, with page | New label, or same |
Use the table to count how many independent sources support each candidate. Keep an attribute only when it appears across several sources and helps separate the concept from related ones. An attribute supported by a single source is usually a detail, not a defining feature.
Search for your sources in PubMed and in databases outside nursing, and keep a log of your searches. Record every source in a synthesis matrix.
Illustrative example, not a real client.
Problem. A master's student wrote a concept analysis of patient advocacy. Her list of attributes was tidy and sensible, and every item was something she believed to be true.
Tension. Her instructor wrote one word next to each attribute: "Source?" She had read widely, but her notes were not organized in a way that showed where each idea came from, and the due date was close.
Turn. She rebuilt her notes as an extraction table and matched each attribute to specific sources. Two attributes turned out to rest on a single article, so she removed them. One attribute she had missed appeared across several disciplines, so she added it.
Proof. Her instructor's feedback changed from "source?" to a question about how her related-concept case differed from her model case, which shows the attributes were now doing their job.
Payoff. The cases section came together quickly because each case was built from a confirmed list of attributes.
Send your concept, chosen method and rubric, and get a quote for a structured draft or an edit. The price is shown before you pay, and revisions are free for 14 days.
Defining attributes are the characteriztics that appear repeatedly across the literature and that distinguish the concept from others. They are the core of the analysis, so choose them with care.
| Weak | Stronger |
|---|---|
| Being good at nursing | Ability to draw on personal and social resources under sustained stress |
| Something nurses do | An intentional act performed on behalf of another, in response to a perceived threat to their interests |
| Feeling bad at work | Persistent emotional exhaustion linked to caring for others in distress |
The examples above are wording forms, not conclusions from real sources. Your own attributes must come from your literature, with citations, and you should usually name three to five that are clearly distinct.
Cases make attributes concrete and test the boundaries of the concept. Each must be clearly labeled, brief and consistent with the attributes you identified. They may be drawn from the literature, from real practice with identifying detail removed, or constructed as fiction. Say which.
| Case | Purpose | What to show |
|---|---|---|
| Model | A pure example | All defining attributes are present |
| Borderline | A near miss | Some, but not all, attributes are present |
| Related | A neighboring concept | Similar, but with different attributes, which sharpens the boundary |
| Contrary | A clear non-example | The concept is plainly absent |
| Invented | A scenario outside ordinary experience | Tests the attributes by removing familiar context |
| Illegitimate | A misuse of the term | Shows how the word is used incorrectly |
The example below is fictional and uses the concept of advocacy for patients. A nurse notices that a patient is being discharged without a plan for home medication, questions the plan with the team, obtains the missing information and makes sure the patient understands. Each defining attribute the analyst listed is visible here: intentional action, on behalf of the patient, in response to a perceived threat, with a communication role.
A borderline case might involve a nurse who notes the same gap but takes no action. A contrary case might involve a nurse who follows an order without question when the patient asks for help. Writing these out forces you to test your attributes.
Walker and Avant treat the model, borderline, related and contrary cases as the main set, and add invented and illegitimate cases when they help. You do not have to write all six unless your course requires it.
Antecedents are events or conditions that must occur before the concept can appear. Consequences are what follow. Identify both from the literature, and present them as lists or a diagram.
A concept cannot be its own antecedent, and an attribute cannot double as a consequence. Keep the categories separate. If a factor could appear in more than one list, decide where it fits best and explain your reasoning.
Empirical referents are the ways the concept can be observed or measured in the real world. They are categories of observable phenomena, such as validated scales, behaviors or documented events. They connect the analysis to research.
Programs vary, but most concept analysis papers follow a shape like the one below.
| Section | What it contains |
|---|---|
| Introduction | The concept, why it matters and the purpose of the analysis |
| Method | The chosen approach, search strategy and inclusion criteria |
| Uses of the concept | Dictionary, disciplinary and nursing uses |
| Defining attributes | The attributes, with support from the literature |
| Cases | Model case and any additional cases |
| Antecedents and consequences | Identified with sources |
| Empirical referents | Measures and observations |
| Discussion | Working definition, implications for practice, education, research and theory, and limitations |
Close with a clear working definition in one or two sentences. Then say what should happen next: a measure, a framework, a study or a change in education. Follow APA 7 for citations and the reference list.
If you follow Rodgers, your paper should show the concept as something that changes over time and across settings, not a fixed definition. That changes how you organize the results.
Rodgers does not aim for a single final definition. Say so plainly, and present your conclusions as the current state of the concept, open to further development.
A concept analysis ends with a clear working definition and a statement of what should follow from it. Students often stop after the referents and leave the reader guessing about the value of the exercise.
Check formatting and references against the APA Style site and the in-text citation guide.
| Feedback | Fix |
|---|---|
| "Attributes look like opinion." | Add an extraction table linking each to at least two independent sources. |
| "The model case does not show every attribute." | Rewrite it and mark each attribute where it appears. |
| "How is this different from a related concept?" | Add a related-concept case that shares some attributes but lacks one. |
| "Antecedents and consequences overlap." | Separate what comes before from what follows, and move any attribute out of the lists. |
| "So what?" | Add a working definition and implications for practice and research. |
There is no fixed number, but three to five distinct attributes are common. Too many blur the concept, and too few may not separate it from its neighbors.
Yes, if you label them as constructed and keep them consistent with the attributes. Cases from practice must be de-identified.
Not necessarily. Follow the method your course specifies. If you have a choice, pick the one that fits your view of the concept and explain the reason.
Include foundational sources for the history of the concept, and recent ones for current use. Rodgers's method in particular values showing how meaning has changed over time.
A concept analysis clarifies one building block of a theory. It can support theory development, measurement and research, as discussed in the theory and framework guide.
A strong concept analysis leaves the reader with a clearer idea than they started with, and a sense of what to do next. Keep every claim tied to sources, keep the method visible and keep the cases honest. If your analysis feeds a larger study, the dissertation guide shows how to use it in a literature chapter.
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