Characteristics of Grand, Middle-Range and Practice Theories Based on McEwen and Wills

	Grand Theories	Middle-Range (Text calls High-Middle and Middle-Middle)	Practice (text calls Low-Middle and Microrange)
Characteristics	Comprehensive, global covering all aspects of the human experience	Middle view reality	Focused on a narrow view of reality, simple and straightforward
Generalizability	Non-specific, general application irrespective of setting or area	More specific to practice areas	Linked to special populations or an identified field of practice
Characteristics of concepts	Concepts abstract and not operationally defined	Limited number of concepts that are fairly concrete	Single, concrete concept that is operationalized
Characteristics of propositions	Propositions are not always explicit	Propositions are clearly stated	Propositions defined
Testability	Not generally testable	May generate testable hypotheses	Goals or outcomes defined and testable
Source of development	Developed through thoughtful appraisal and careful consideration over many years	Evolve from grand theories, clinical practice, literature review, practice guidelines	Derived from practice or deduced from middle-range or grand theories
Examples	Martha Rogers, Margaret Newman, Parse, Systems theory, Feminist theory	Benner's Model of Skill Acquisition, Leninger's Cultural Care, Pender's Health Promotion Model, Health Belief Model	Theories used for direct patient care such as theories of caring, pain, empowerment, clinical decision-making, describe patient outcomes such as parent-infant bonding or pain management. They tend to be developed from grounded theory studies