experiencing the lack of teaching and guidance from research-active nurses as a contextual barrier to increasing their knowledge and competencies. Akerjordet and colleagues (2012) agree that research supervision is a pivotal factor in linking research to clinical practice. They also explain how a clinical nurse with an MSc or a PhD could serve as inspiration, as well as a role model, to facilitate processes of critical thinking and education in the core competencies of research (Akerjordet et al., 2012). In our survey, a third of the nurses indicated that having a role model was a motivational factor. However, it was the smallest factor of all. This could be because research is a new and underdeveloped part of the nurses’ working day. It could also be that the current role model have not succeeded in establishing the necessary research environment in the department or a supporting collaboration between herself and the nurses, which could encourage a feeling of engagement and ownership by the nurses. The most important personal barrier for almost one-quarter of the participating nurses was the lack of time to prioritize research activities during the working day. The phenomenon of lack of time is a general assumption among nurses as a barrier to conducting research in their clinical practice. The results of other studies also indicate the presence of this phenomenon (Breimaier et al., 2011; Brown et al., 2010; Roxburgh, 2006). Brown and colleagues (2010) found insufficient time to read research and to implement new ideas to be the top barriers among hospital nurses in four hospitals in southern California. Their explanations for these findings were that the hospital nurses were distanced from research in their busy working day (Brown et al., 2010). This could also apply to the nurses in our survey. Even though one-quarter responded to have been engaged or were currently engaged in research projects, there were no ongoing nursing projects, developmental or research, in the OD when the survey took place. In Roxburgh’s (2006) qualitative study, the nurses mentioned the pressure of working full time and on different shifts, as well as spending their leisure time with their families, as time-consuming barriers for research participation. Even though time as a barrier is consistent with the international literature, Adamsen and colleagues (2003) questioned lack of time as a legitimate and acceptable reason for not participating in research-related work. They further explained that ‘lack of time’ is often a euphemism and a socially acceptable reason for avoiding research utilization because of a lack of interest and competencies (Adamsen et al., 2003). STUDY LIMITATIONS This study has several limitations. Because of the low response rate (49.4%), the study results may not be related to the other nurses in the department setting or to other nursing settings. A possible cause of the low response rate could be the role of the head section nurses in the distribution of the questionnaire. This could be explained through the results of our survey. Convenient sampling was chosen instead of a power estimate of the sample participation, which provided a smaller sample for generalization. However, the findings provide an interesting baseline for further facilitation and education regarding evidence-based practice for the nurses in the selected department. 80 % (76.8% – 81.4%) of the participating nurses indicated a significant interest in nursing research and in improving their knowledge and competencies. The response rate of 43 nurses out of 87 invited nurses left us considering that only those nurses who were interested in research participated. This could be a major obstacle for further research; however, we will limit our focus to the nurses interested in the beginning of the educational intervention. The study is a part of an ongoing project where data will be further interrogated. CONCLUSION Based on the results of this survey, the nurses had a low degree of theoretical research knowledge and practical research competencies, despite 44.1% of the nurses held a Bachelor degree. The results indicated that the nurses were very interested in improving their skills. The nurses’ motivational factors depended on