Most trees begin life as a seed. The seed is a small unit of life from which even the most massive trees can grow from.
Research starts with a seed, too. The seeds of research are the small ideas and questions which the researcher chooses to investigate and pursue in great depth.

Exploring these seeds of research allows the ideas, theories, and phenomena in the nursing practice to be developed and refined. As they develop, they may branch off into other ideas and questions, just as a trees branches divide and bifurcate into many separate paths.

The tree will continue to grow and build branches onto itself; it is constantly adapting, growing, and improving, especially when it finds itself in an ideal environment.

Research can be grown and developed in the same way. It can build upon the seeds and ideas of prior research. It can grow and develop into a very large and complicated system which seems to have a life of its own.

Research will find itself as a tree does; if it receives the proper nurturing and life-sustaining environment, it will grow, thrive, and prosper.