Walker and Avant Method for Concept Analysis: Eight-Step Method

The following are the steps in the Walker and Avant Method of concept analysis, along with descriptions of what each step entails. Items in bold text should be included in the infographic.

1. Select a concept with the aim of clarifying meaning for your chosen theory (see Step 2).
   1. Concept selection should reflect the topic or area of greatest interest.
2. Determine the aims of the concept.
   1. Is the analysis to clarify the meaning?
   2. Is the analysis to develop an operational definition?
   3. Is the analysis to distinguish between the normal, ordinary, and scientific language use of the concept?
   4. Is the analysis based on personal interest in conducting the concept analysis itself?
3. Identify all uses of the concept possible.
   1. Use dictionaries, thesauruses, colleagues, and literature to do so.
   2. Do not limit search to just nursing or medical literature.
4. Determine the defining attributes.
   1. Take notes on the characteristics that appear repeatedly when examining the different instances of a concept.
   2. Repeated characteristics will become the critical or defining attributes of the concept.
5. Identify a model case.
   1. A model case is a real-life example of the use of the concept that includes all critical attributes of the concept.
   2. The model case can come first, can be developed simultaneously with the attributes, or can emerge after the attributes are tentatively determined.
6. Identify borderline, related, contrary, invented, and illegitimate cases.
   1. Borderline case: contains some of the critical attributes but not all of them
   2. Related case: related to the concept but does not contain the critical attributes
   3. Contrary case: not the concept
   4. Invented case: constructed, but not existing in real life
   5. Illegitimate case: concept in another context
7. Identify antecedents and consequences.
   1. Antecedents: events that must occur preceding the occurrence of the concept
   2. Consequences: events that occur as a result of the occurrence of the concept
8. Define empirical referents.
   1. Referents will be classes or categories of actual phenomena that, by their existence or presence, demonstrate the occurrence of the concept.
   2. Empirical references are useful in instrument development and in contributing to content and construct validity of any new instrument.