Aim To highlight philosophical and theoretical considerations for planning a mixed methods research design that can inform a practice model to guide rural district nursing end of life care.

Background Conceptual models of nursing in the community are general and lack guidance for rural district nursing care. A combination of pragmatism and nurse agency theory can provide a framework for ethical considerations in mixed methods research in the private world of rural district end of life care.

Discussion Reflection on experience gathered in a two-stage qualitative research phase, involving rural district nurses who use advocacy successfully, can inform a quantitative phase for testing and complementing the data. Ongoing data analysis and integration result in generalisable inferences to achieve the research objective.

Conclusion Mixed methods research that creatively combines philosophical and theoretical elements to guide design in the particular ethical situation of community end of life care can be used to explore an emerging field of interest and test the findings for evidence to guide quality nursing practice.

Implications for practice Combining philosophy and nursing theory to guide mixed methods research design increases the opportunity for sound research outcomes that can inform a nursing model of care.