We're planning to conduct a systematic review, and within that, the aim to create a standardised definition of a concept.
I would refer to the classic rules of logic. E.g. avoid circular logic and overlap of different definitions...
There are various methods which guide researchers through a "concept analysis" which is a process which, eventually, will provide you with a working definition based on a thorough understanding of extant literature and theory. There are a couple of interesting papers that provide summaries of approaches, including this one attached. Useful also is that concept analyses are publishable in themselves, so not only can it directly benefit your study by providing conceptual clarity but can be the basis of a peer reviewed output. Win-win!
http://www.tara.tcd.ie/xmlui/bitstream/handle/2262/69917/Concept%20analysis%20V4.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
There isn't "a" standard process for creating a new definition. General research findings on this topic as well as philosophical literature often mention concept research and concept analysis. In these sources two parts are important in generating a new intensional definition: The genus (or family) and the differentia. Problem here is that these sources do not explicitly describe how to perform a concept analysis in a structured and standardized way and how to define genus and differentia. Certain disciplines have developed their own concept analysis methods. Especially in nursing and health sciences there exist a lot of different methods. Here some examples:
- concept analysis (Walker & Avant 1983)
- evolutionary concept analysis (Rogers 1993)
- simultaneous concept analysis (Haase et al. 1993)
- hybrid model of concept development (Schwartz-Barcott & Kim 1993)
- utility method (Morse 2000)
- principle-based method of concept analysis (Penrod & Hupcey 2005)
The method by Walker & Avant (1983) is one of the most popular one and is used in large amount of studies. For detailed information you can read the article by Nuopponen (2010). She described and compared the different methods. Here the link:
- http://www.healthindisasters.com/images/Books/Methods-of-concept-analysis.pdf
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