Abstract
This is the first of two articles that aim at contributing to the understanding of the development of the nursing discipline in Sweden. The purpose of this part of the study was to describe the development on the theoretical level. The informants (12) represented four generations of nurse researchers. Data was collected by interviews and analysed by qualitative content analysis. The results showed that all generations considered the nursing discipline to have a unique perspective, core of knowledge or value system. Nursing theories had been used in research by all four generations as well as both qualitative and quantitative methods, although there seemed to be a growing emphasis on qualitative methods. The conception of nursing as an evolving, scientific discipline that still needs clarification was also common among the informants and all four generations stressed the importance of the clinical and practical interest of nursing. The differences between the generations concerned mainly the relationship to medical science, the research interests of the informants and their views of who is to conduct nursing research. In conclusion, the interviewees describe a picture of the nursing discipline as an evolving scientific discipline in its own right with a strong practical interest, still struggling with internal problems.