Public Health Nursing Practice Exam 2026 – The Complete Guide to Master Your Certification!

The correct answer is generation. When a nurse surveys school nurses in a community to obtain data that is currently unavailable, they are actively involved in generating new information. This process goes beyond merely collecting or gathering existing information; it involves creating a dataset that can provide insights into specific health concerns or conditions affecting the school population.

Generation often requires careful planning, including defining the objectives of the survey, developing appropriate questions, and determining the methodology to ensure that the data collected is relevant and useful for future public health interventions. This process allows the nurse to fill gaps in knowledge and contribute to a comprehensive understanding of community health needs.

The other terms—collection, gathering, and interpretation—describe different aspects of data handling. Collection and gathering imply the acquisition of existing information or data rather than creating it anew. Interpretation involves analyzing and drawing conclusions from data after it has been collected, which is not the primary focus when actively surveying for previously unavailable data.