writing workshop 2 2012

7/31/2019 Writing Workshop 2 2012

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Thinking and

writing critically

Dr Elaine Ball University ofSalford


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The session aims to help:

Formulate ideas concerning the interpretation of newknowledge through the research process, of a quality tosatisfy formative assessment

Develop the capacity to make connections betweenrelevant theoretical constructs (and practice interventions)

An advanced ability to make links across subject areas,paradigms and theoretical orientations and present, discuss

and defend these in a viva voceProvide a highly developed defence of your thesis


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o you recogn se s

thinking?


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ETHNOGRAPHY

FACILITATION CONTEXT

CULTURE

LEADERSHIP

PARIHS

FRAMEWORK EVALUATION

EVIDENCE

Organisation of care } Factors that compromise pain management practices

Coping strategies } with older people

Pain assessment

& practice


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ETHNOGRAPHY


CULTURE

LEADERSHIP

PARIHS


EVIDENCE

TWO YEAR ACTION RESEARCH STUDY

REFLECTIVE COMMUNICATION INTERRUPTIONS PAIN ASSESSMENT

CYCLES



Pain assessment

& practice


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ETHNOGRAPHY


CULTURE

LEADERSHIP

PARIHS

FRAMEWORK

EVALUATIONEVIDENCE


CYCLES



Pain assessment

& practice


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ETHNOGRAPHY


CULTURE

LEADERSHIP

PARIHS


EVIDENCE


CYCLES

POWER AUTONOMY

CONCEPTUAL

THEMES HORIZONTAL VIOLENCE

OPPRESSION

TRUST SUPPORT (or lack of)


Coping strategies } with older peoplePain assessment

& practice


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ETHNOGRAPHY


CULTURE

LEADERSHIP

PARIHS

FRAMEWORK

EVALUATION

EVIDENCE


CYCLES

POWER AUTONOMY

CONCEPTUAL

THEMES

OPPRESSION HORIZONTAL VIOLENCE


DISTORTED PERCEPTION S

Organisation of care } Factors that compromise pain management practicesCoping strategies } with older people

Pain assessment& practice

Autonomy


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ETHNOGRAPHY


CULTURE

LEADERSHIP

PARIHS

FRAMEWORK

EVALUATION

EVIDENCE


CYCLES

POWER AUTONOMY

CONCEPTUAL

THEMES

HORIZONTAL VIOLENCE

OPPRESSION


DISTORTED PERCEPTIONS




Horizontalviolence


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ETHNOGRAPHY


CULTURE

LEADERSHIP

PARIHS

FRAMEWORK

EVALUATION

EVIDENCE


CYCLES

POWER AUTONOMY

CONCEPTUAL

THEMES

HORIZONTAL VIOLENCE

OPPRESSION





Pain assessment

& practice

Oppression


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ETHNOGRAPHY


CULTURE

LEADERSHIP

PARIHS

FRAMEWORK

EVALUATION

EVIDENCE


CYCLES

POWER AUTONOMY

CONCEPTUAL

THEMES

HORIZONTAL VIOLENCE

OPPRESSION





Pain assessment

& practice

Psychologicalsafety


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ETHNOGRAPHY


CULTURE

LEADERSHIP

PARIHS

FRAMEWORK

EVALUATION

EVIDENCE


CYCLES

POWER AUTONOMY

CONCEPTUAL

THEME

HORIZONTAL VIOLENCE

OPPRESSION





Pain assessment

& practice

Distortedperceptions


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ETHNOGRAPHY


CULTURE

LEADERSHIP

PARIHS

FRAMEWORK

EVALUATION

EVIDENCE


CYCLES

POWER AUTONOMY

CONCEPTUAL

THEMES







Power


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ETHNOGRAPHY


CULTURE

LEADERSHIP

PARIHS

FRAMEWORK

EVALUATION

EVIDENCE

REFLECTIVE COMMUNICATION INTERRUPTIO NS PAIN ASSESSMENT

CYCLES

POWER AUTONOMY

CONCEPTUAL

THEMES



DISTORTED PERCEPTION S

Organisation of care } Factors that compromise pain management practicesCoping strategies } with older peoplePain assessment

& practice

Leadership


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All connections


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Identification of need instages

Where are you in the PhD process?:Are you in the planning phase?The gathering of information

phase? Interpreting and understanding

theories?Organising and structuring your

information?Paragraph formation and writing

up?


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Original thought / combination andselection

Metaphysical philosophy

Structuralist & post-structuralist thought (i.e.Roland Barthes, 1960s-

70s)Capturing Diachronic &

Synchronic moments intime

Wi h h i


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With synthesis youdevelop an importantdoctoral study skill:

organizeinformation andrelate it to theresearch you aredeveloping

synthesizeresultsinto a summary of

what is and is notknown


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Construct synthesis table

Author Purpose Methods Sample Findings Critical

comments

Baptiste

and

Drennan

(1999)

Explore

relationship

between

members of

primary health

care teams &school nurses

Qualitative

postal

questionnaire +

1 FG of 6 SNs

HVs, DNs,

PNs, GPs

42%

response

(n=57)

4 themes -

awareness of

service,

perceptions of

SN role, inter

professionalrelationships,

improving

communication.

Limited

methods but

FG

confirmatory

. Important

to project.


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Synthesis table contd example:Definitions of community development

Definition Key concepts Author

A process that stresses working withpeople as they define their own goals,mobilise resources, and develop actionplans for addressing problems that theycollectively have identified

Working with people.Community defines own goals andproblems.Help community to mobiliseresources and develop action plans

Minkler1999. p.261

A process of voluntary cooperation andself-help/mutual aid among residents of alocale aimed at the improved physical,social and economic conditions.

Community self help to improveconditions.

Chavis &Florin 1990p.2

A way of tackling a communitys problems

by using the energy and leadership of thepeople who live there. It is based on thebelief that the local people understand bestthe direct nature of the problems facingthem

Energy and leadership of local

people.Local people know best what isneeded.

Black 1996

p.5


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With synthesis you develop an important study skill:

information gathering: the

ability to scan the literatureefficiently using manual orcomputerized methods toidentify a set of potentiallyuseful articles and books

analysis: the ability to applyprinciples of critical analysis toidentify those studies which arerelevant to your argument

You will need more than adescriptive list of articles andbooks you will need also a

justification


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Interrogate the literature

Is there a consensus regarding the meaning, nature or

constitution of the topic?Are there counter-arguments as to the meaning, nature and

constitution of the topic, if so what are they?

Do you agree with these counter-arguments?

If there are no counter-arguments, can you think of any?These could be based upon theory or experience.

Implications for your methodology

Did the methodology of one study produce more valid resultsthan another study?

Does one study have more practical relevance to your projectthan another?

In other words, what is the justification for organising and


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Common problems with literaturereviews

Insufficiently analytical or critical or primary reports

Fail to make explicit selection criteria for inclusion ofliterature

Publication bias in favour of studies showing positive results

Little evidence for reader to judge rigour of review process

Simplistic/erroneous conclusions drawn from findings

Recommendations not always explicitly drawn from findings.

(Cullum 1994)


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To answer the how did you get here questionsyou need to be able, in stages, to:

1. Examine, Identify and Plan2. What should you have learnt from examining, identifying and

planning?

3. That you have identified other theorists positions, argumentsand conclusions and, importantly, that you can evaluate theirwork fairly

4. Spelling test Height & Freight

5. What language, genre, style, grammatical structure is the writerusing?

2424


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Find a guiding concept

Organsie your findings according to aguiding concept such as yourresearch objective, or the

problem/issue you wish to address Use the language of that guiding

concept


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The Story

Every research project has at least one major"story" in it

Sometimes the story centres around a specificresearch finding

Sometimes it is based on a methodologicalproblem or challengeWhen you write your thesis, you should attempt

to tell the "story" to your reader. Even in veryformal journal articles where you will berequired to be concise and detailed at the sametime, a good "storyline" can help make anotherwise very dull report interesting to thereader


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The objective: Your objective is not to rack up points by

listing as many articles as possible; youwant to demonstrate your ability torecognise relevant information, and to

synthesise and evaluate criticallyinformation according to the guidingconcepts you set

You want to show what literature exists,but also your informed critical evaluationof the literature. To meet both of theseneeds, you must employ critical appraisal


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Definition of criticalappraisal A systematic way of

considering thetruthfulness of a piece ofresearch, the results andhow relevant and

applicable they are Bury and Mead (1998)

Evaluate evidence,judgement about

truthfulness and usefulness


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How good is your critical appraisal: Analyse thefollowing statements and decide whether they areclaims stating opinions or facts. Be prepared to

support your choices with the group:

1. It has, for example, been suggested thatwhereas health promotion programmes at thenational level have successfully met their

targets, at more local levels similar programmeshave failed to accommodate the needs of agrowing population

1. Previous studies have strongly supported the

initiative of helping pregnant women stopsmoking. However, some of these studies haveproduced inconclusive evidence in relation totheir efficacy of support programmes forpregnant smokers (e.g. Kelly et al 2001, Melvinet al 2010, Gaffney 2011)

oc ora eve ere are ree ey


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A distinguishing feature of any doctorate is your

application of knowledge to the research setting. Youposition yourself within the research, & are involvedwith the delivery of change

You are enmeshed in the research topic.

Methodologically, this must lead to the adoption of acritical and writerly approach. For example, do youtake a constructivist grounded theory approach, orontological position, or an interpretivist theoreticalperspective for analysis?Your personal experiences will exert a level ofinfluence on your thesis / research, this brings theconcept of reflexivity to the fore (Alvesson and

Skoldberg, 2009)

oc ora eve ere are ree eyprocesses: knowledge generation,supervision and assessment


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COMMUNICATION

Management:

Although functions of management such asplanning, organising and controlling can be

isolated, communication impacts on allmanagement activities and cuts across allaspects of the management process

How do you articulate issues and concerns

so that co-workers do not become confusedabout priorities?

Being critically aware also means


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Being critically aware also meanstranslating accurately the needs of the(patient/client) domainOrganisational communication is even more complex than

interpersonal or group communication: why? Micro management: anger management; self management


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Identification of need at theend needs reflection

We need to reflect on our own researchpractices in terms of:

what role we played in producingcertain kinds of knowledgeshow and why we came to the

conclusions we didhow the resultant knowledges function

to shape the world and how weoptimally organise our arguments tothink and write critically


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Why?.. To make unexamined metatheoretical commitments,and remain unaware of their origins, amounts to anabdication of intellectual responsibility which results inpoor research practices. (Johnson & Duberley, 2003)

Reflexivity helps us to attend to this:

Reflexivity requires an awareness of the researcher'scontribution to the construction of meanings throughoutthe research process, and an acknowledgment of theimpossibility of remaining 'outside of' one's subject

matter while conducting research. Reflexivity then, urgesus "to explore the ways in which a researcher'sinvolvement with a particular study influences, acts uponand informs such research." (Nightingale & Cromby,1999, p. 228).


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It helps us tothink abouttheimplications ofsuch

assumptionsfor theresearch andits findings."(Willig, 2001)

Epistemologicalreflexivityencourages us toreflect upon theassumptions (about

the world, aboutknowledge) that wehave made in thecourse of theresearch and thewriting up

Engage withquestionssuch as:

How has the research question defined and limited what can be'found?' How has the design of the study and the method of analysis'constructed' the data and the findings? How could the researchquestion have been investigated differently? To what extent would thishave given rise to a different understanding of the phenomenon underinvestigation?

Epistemological reflexivity

Is it any


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Is it any

clearer?Communication iscritical tosuccessfullywriting yourcriticalanalysis andtranslatingthe facts

Th C iti l C t f


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The Critical Components ofCommunication

The critical components of communicationcentre upon understanding

Expressing oneself successfully and being

understood depend upon how the messageis formulated as much as the messagecontent.


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Thinking & writing critically (acrossboundaries)

Leadership Roles

Hamm(2006)

1.Understands & appropriately uses informalcommunication network in the organisation

2.Communicates clearly in language others willunderstand

3.Is sensitive to the internal & external climate ofsender/ receiver

4.Role models assertive communication & activelistening

5.Recognises status, power, authority as barriers tomanager-subordinate communication; usescommunication strategies to overcome those barriers

6.Seeks a balance between technological

Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFNt_pV2RNk&feature=emailhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFNt_pV2RNk&feature=email


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In Conclusion

Thinking and writing critically isextremely complex compared toother practices, the health servicepresents a unique personalchallenge, where you have to beaware of how your thesis and its

content will be received. You needto consider: The range of literature informing

your thesis The range and diversity of

professional, technical and general

ideas relating to your work The expectations of your audience

(service users, examiners etc)

writing workshop 2 2012

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