Prepared to stimulate and advance nursing research in postsecondary education, the papers included in these proceedings offer a variety of perspectives on the outlook for nursing research in the 1980s. The following papers are presented: (1) "Creating Research Environments for the 1980s," by Geraldene Felton; (2) "Creating an Environment for Successful Grant Applications," by Pauline Komnenich, which discusses resources within the National Institutes of Health; (3) "The Dean's Role in Creating a Research Environment," by Valencia N. Prock, which focuses on areas crucial to planning and implementing productive research at a school of nursing; (4) "Creating a Research Environment: A Faculty Member's Perspective," by Mara M. Baun, which details how a university school of nursing can involve its faculty in creative and scholarly activities; (5) "Establishing Clinical Research Programs in the 1980s," by Sydney D. Krampitz, which describes how to establish and nurture a research environment in a clinical setting; and (6) "Today's Nursing Research Issues, Problem Areas, and Experiences in a Clinical Environment," by Helen Jameson, which explains the need for special planning related to the development of clinical research. (RO)