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cook c. (2012) Email interviewing: generating data with a vulnerable population. Journal of Advanced Nursing 68(6), 1330-1339. Abstract Aims. This paper describes online recruitment and the email interviewing data collection method with women diagnosed with a viral sexually transmitted infection. The paper highlights the advantages of the method to researchers and participants when conducting research where face-to-face participation may difficult. Background. Online recruitment and in-depth email interviewing have been used by only a small number of nurses internationally. The method enables inclusion of people who might otherwise be excluded from research, for reasons such as geographical distance, incompatible time frames, clinicians''gate-keeping' and participants' desire for anonymity for physical or emotional reasons. Methods. In-depth email interviews were conducted with 26 women in New Zealand, United States of America, Canada and England who had a diagnosis of either human papilloma virus or genital herpes simplex virus. Data were collected during 2007-2008 and analysed using a poststructuralist, feminist thematic analysis. Results. Participant retention was high. Women emphasized satisfaction with the process. Asynchronous interviews allowed for additional reflexivity in the researcher's responses and rich data generation. Conclusion. This method has the potential to enable nurses to include vulnerable and relatively inaccessible participants in 'sensitive' research. In-depth email interviews may generate rich data through a process participants deem to be of personal value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There appears to be considerable variation between different national jurisdictions and between different sectors of public policy in the use of evidence and particularly the use of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate non-healthcare sector programmes. Methods: As part of a wider study attempting to identify RCTs of public policy sector programmes and the reasons for variation between countries and sectors in their use, we carried out a pilot study which interviewed 10 policy makers and researchers in six countries to elicit views on barriers to and facilitators of the use of RCTs for social programmes. Results: While in common with earlier studies, those interviewed expressed a need for unambiguous findings, timely results and significant effect sizes, users could, in fact, be ambivalent about robust methods and robust answers about what works, does not work or makes no difference, particularly where investment or a policy announcement was planned. Different national and policy sector cultures varied in their use of and support for RCTs. Conclusions: In order to maximise the use of robust evaluations of public programmes across the world it would be useful to examine, systematically, cross-national and cross-sectoral variations in the use of different methods including RCTs and barriers to and facilitators of their use. Sound research methods, whatever their scientific value, are no guarantee that findings will be useful or used. 'Stories' have been shown to influence policy; those advocating the use of RCTs may need to provide convincing narratives to avoid repetition about their value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK has long experienced a shortage of social workers and has recruited internationally to meet demand. There have been few specific data quantifying the scale of social work mobility to the UK through which such experiences can be set in context. The analysis reported in this article uses data from October 2008, relating to registered social workers working in England. As part of a wider study of migrant social care workers in England, the article reports analysis of data records of over 7,000 non-UK social workers registered to work in England and compares their characteristics to UK-qualified social workers. These analyses are supplemented by analysis of more recent application and registration data from the General Social Care Council pertaining to social workers qualified within and outside the European Union during 2008 and 2009. The findings highlight several important observations in terms of non-UK-qualified social workers' profile as well as some possible trends in migration and variations in rates of qualification verification. Over half of all international social workers in England were trained in four countries: Australia, South Africa, India and the USA. Findings are contextualised with qualitative data obtained from the wider study and policy debates. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]