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Why you should read this article: • UK care homes are an important example of a complex environment where research is essential but faces multiple challenges in terms of rigour and methodology • This paper offers a variety of important methodological strategies to identify and address challenges that could impact findings and the ability to carry out research • It highlights the importance of taking a critical stance with all elements of the research process and illustrates the need to identify and mitigate challenges when conducting research in complex environments. Background: The evidence base for hydration practice in care homes is underdeveloped. High-quality research is therefore needed to determine what practices support older people with dementia in drinking sufficient fluid. However, methodological developments are needed to be able to do this. Aim: To highlight the methodological issues researchers encountered during a feasibility cluster, randomised controlled trial of ThinkDrink, a hydration care guide for people with dementia living in UK care homes. Discussion: This is a challenging area because of the complexity of recruitment, participation and data collection in care homes. Researchers must pay extra attention to rigour and quality in the design of their studies. There may be multiple challenges, so various strategies may be required. Conclusion: It is important that researchers continue to reflect on rigorous approaches to develop evidence in a crucial area of care, despite these challenges. Implications for practice: Researchers working in complex environments face a variety of challenges to complete methodologically rigorous research. It is important for researchers to be critical of research processes and data, to mitigate and overcome these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many theories of political participation imply that close elections increase voter turnout, but empirical support for this is mixed. One challenge is that close elections occur in unrepresentative places, making it difficult to extend counterfactual inferences across the wider electorate. In this note, I study closeness in an alternative way by leveraging those who move home between elections. With a large‐scale longitudinal survey in Great Britain, comparing individuals who move between safe and competitive parliamentary constituencies, I provide evidence that closeness increases campaign contact but generally fails to affect turnout. British movers are politically comparable to the wider electorate, so the results can be cautiously generalised. This contributes to substantive literature on voter and party‐led theories of participation, while adopting an empirical strategy seldom used in the study of political behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to research on citizenship and belonging in the post-Brexit white East European migration to the UK. It explores wearing a garment as an act of citizenship and an embodied methodology. It is formed of two interrelated parts: the first presents the argument that wearing a particular garment at a specific spatio-temporal juncture can be considered an act of citizenship. The second part proposes wearing as an affective method in researching citizenship that has the potential to explore the sensory and emotional dimensions of (non)belonging. White embodiments and discomfort are two threads that connect the main arguments. The article builds on autoethnographic notes made after preparing for a job interview as a white East European woman wearing a Victorian male costume while travelling from East to South London in the wake of the General Election on 12 December 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a feasibility study for an evaluation of a UK primary school‐based prevention programme that addresses multiple forms of abuse and neglect, identifying research design and ethical issues and exploring research practice. For this feasibility study, 194 children aged 6–11 years completed a baseline survey and 113 did so following the intervention. Eight focus groups were undertaken with 52 children and nine interviews with school staff. We highlight key considerations for conducting large‐scale mixed‐method research on sensitive topics with younger children, a focus that is largely absent from the extant research methods literature. The feasibility study showed that younger children can contribute their views on sensitive topics in ways that are measurable, replicable and reliable, contesting ideas that certain topics are too sensitive to explore with younger children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to explore how power dynamics affect research with children, focusing on how the projected and perceived role of the researcher and the use of participative techniques, can mediate power relationships between the researcher and child, and impact children's agency. Design/methodology/approach: The research formed part of a wider study on children's digital device use, with children aged 4 to 11 in a UK school. Eight pairs of children participated in buddy interviews, completing several creative and arts-based activities using a choice of equipment and materials, including PlayDoh, LEGO and most innovatively, Minecraft. Findings: The study found the researcher's projected role, and children's interpretation of this, impacted the power relations in the interviews. A consistent projection was challenging however, and it was necessary for the researcher to adapt their role according to children's needs and behaviour. Offering children a choice of activities was an effective power sharing strategy, and children's absorption in these tasks provided a wealth of data from observations and children's on-task "chatter". Originality/value: Using Minecraft as a participative method enabled the children to use their superior technical abilities to take power in the interview, and show their own personal geographies virtually in 3D, and offers potential for other qualitative researchers in conducting research with the agentic child. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The type of intensive training previously needed for crafts in the printing trade is now redundant, but as craft practices are added biannually to Heritage Craft's UK Red List of Endangered Crafts, there is a pressing need to preserve skills whilst also creating and developing new methodologies for practice in the UK to ensure these crafts survive as part of a thriving cultural heritage. The Dissecting Crafts project was centred around supporting book craft practitioners (typesetters and manufacturers, a letterpress printer and a book binder) to gain insight and extend their practice. Using qualitative research methods, an embodied knowledge methodology was developed as a system of self-evaluation. A freely available online tool kit was developed from project findings to enable other practitioners at all skill levels access to the programme. Sharing the research stages sensitively with case study practitioners evidenced their connectedness with their tools and with what they make, through a process of validation that was not anticipated in the project. Unintrusive methods of documenting in-progress activities, the practitionerresearchers' recordings of the craft participants' experiential dialogue proved valuable for them to be able to harness and transfer their knowledge. The methodology and tool kit were extended to other maker practices with feedback types ranging from practice development, reflection skills, and articulation to validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Within the context of the big data society, new systems of data collection on domestic violence and abuse (DVA) have emerged. One such system is Domestic Violence Fatality Review (DVFR) which captures the various dimensions of gender, violence, and abuse required to form an evidence base for prevention. However, to date, there has been limited dialogue between practitioners and researchers about the 'doing' of DVFRs. Method: As DVFR systems vary by jurisdiction, we conducted a case study of Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) in England and Wales. Applying the Research Integrity Framework (RIF) developed by the four Women's Aid Federations in the United Kingdom (UK), this article examines both the practice of DHR and how it is utilised as data in research. Results: Informed by our situated perspectives as researchers and/or practitioners working in the field, our analysis demonstrates how undertaking DHR as a practitioner parallels collecting, accessing, and analysing data from DHRs as a researcher. Guiding principles are identified to help practitioners and researchers navigate the parallel challenges they confront and, critically, inform dialogue between practice and research. Conclusions: Implications for both professional practice and research are presented. To increase transparency and confidence, we argue that more attention should be afforded to the methodological and ethical issues inherent in both the practice of DHRs, and their utilisation as a source of data in research. While DHRs have differences to DVFRs in other jurisdictions, these findings also have implications for these other systems which will also be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calls for the decolonization of education at all levels of education in the UK have gained new momentum since the murder of George Floyd on 25 May 2020 in Minneapolis and the subsequent Black Lives Matter demonstrations throughout the US and the UK. In this article I focus on the reactions to demands for the decolonization of the curriculum in my own department, Social Policy, at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). I argue that understanding the reactions of academic staff to student demands is informative about the nature of the problem. The article provides a contribution to discussions on decolonization on two fronts: (a) it highlights the internal dynamics of engagement with student demands in the context of a Higher Education Institution (HEI) and (b) the academic responses to students' demands reveal an underlying mechanism that reproduces the status quo in the teaching of Social Policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the contributions of Alan Sugarman (US), Rachel Blass (Israel), Paul Denis (France), Luisa Perez (Uruguay), Bernard Reith (Switzerland) and David Tuckett (UK) to a debate on the question of how we can enable productive discussion about our scientific differences and why historically it has been so difficult for the discipline of psychoanalysis to initiate and sustain such discussions. By way of introduction the historical example of the Controversial Discussions in the British Psychoanalytic Society is briefly reviewed and several possible factors contributing to the difficulties are provisionally identified, including over-reliance on authority and tradition, eagerness to supervise on the basis of our own theoretical models rather than trying to understand those of others, the lack of clarity and consensus in our definitions of terms, a lack of mutual curiosity resulting in theoretical silos, an experienced threat to identity when adjustments to our positions are called for, and the lack of a methodology for undesrstanding and / or resolving differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decades, the neurosciences, behavioral sciences, and the social sciences have all seen a rapid development of innovative research methods. The field of bioethics, however, has trailed behind in methodological innovation. Despite the so-called "empirical turn" in bioethics, research methodology for project development, data collection and analysis, and dissemination has remained largely restricted to surveys, interviews, and research papers. We have previously argued for a "Design Bioethics" approach to empirical bioethics methodology, which develops purpose-built methods for investigation of bioethical concerns. In this paper we compare a research tool created using a design bioethics approach to a "methods-as-usual" approach in empirical bioethics. Our study compared dimensions of engagement with a digital game we created, called "Tracing Tomorrow," to a standard vignette survey. The two tools investigated the same subject matter, digital phenotyping for mental health, in a sample of 301 UK adolescents. Participants who played the game reported a greater sense of presence, emotional engagement, cognitive absorption, and mental health ethics insight, compared to participants who completed the vignette survey. Perceived authenticity and curiosity/motivation to learn more was equivalent for both methods. The results of this study highlights the importance of purpose-built methodology for empirical bioethics research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the UK, the Research Excellence Framework is a mechanism used for ranking the quality of research in higher education institutions. While there has been analysis of the entire Research Excellence Framework, and of the Education unit of assessment more generally, analysis of how research on initial teacher education featured in the Research Excellence Framework has been minimal. In this article, we report on Phase I of an 18-month project that mapped the extent to which initial teacher education-focused research was included in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework. Employing a novel methodology and a theoretical framework based on policy as text and discourse, we identify a sample of 12 higher education institutions that provided initial teacher education programmes and returned outputs to the 2014 Research Excellence Framework. Analysis of over 1,600 outputs suggest that in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework only 5.5 per cent of these were focused on initial teacher education. We discuss the methodological approach, some headline findings and areas for future research, arguing that these add evidence to the literature of initial teacher education-focused research and, in doing so, can inform policy at the levels of schools, higher education institutions, Research Excellence Framework and the government. We conclude that although the Research Excellence Framework only concerns the UK, similar exercises are becoming increasingly prevalent globally, and therefore the extent to which research on initial teacher education was marginalised in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework is of interest to all concerned with teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to discern the causes of the health and developmental problems of children, and thence develop preventative strategies, longitudinal cohort studies offer major advantages. They can monitor the consequences of exposure to physical and psychological events and thence identify antecedents of various disorders. We describe the historical background to the development in the UK of this study design, and the uptake of longitudinal birth cohorts in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), using the cohorts in Jamaica, South Africa and Brazil as exemplars. We describe the benefits of such studies and show how undertaking longitudinal cohort studies can have major health and financial benefits to the populations concerned. Additionally, the paper outlines the advantages of collaboration between studies and the pooling of data.

In a paper published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Adamson et al. (2020) interpret data as showing that cognitive behavioural therapy leads to improvement in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome and chronic fatigue. Their research is undermined by several methodological limitations, including: (a) sampling ambiguity; (b) weak measurement; (c) survivor bias; (d) missing data and (e) lack of a control group. Unacknowledged sample attrition renders statements in the published Abstract misleading with regard to points of fact. That the paper was approved by peer reviewers and editors illustrates how non-rigorous editorial processes contribute to systematic publication bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last few years, research studies and opinion pieces have tried to account for the new polarisation and dealignment of US politics after Trump and the post-Brexit UK politics. It is now well-established both by academic research and by Facebook's own research that Facebook leads to more polarisation in its users' political views, but rhetorical analysis has not yet accounted for the role played by algorithms in political communication and persuasion. What does social media do to rhetoric? The situation of speech in social media is often treated like in a public sphere when it should not be. This misconception prevents rhetorical studies to take into consideration the question of technology. By using the recent literature in critical algorithm studies, I develop a new approach in rhetorical criticism. I argue here that the increasing agency that algorithms have acquired in delivering and mediating rhetoric means that we must consider the role played by intermediaries when examining rhetorical situations. This paper sheds light on what I call the four conditionalities of algorithms on rhetoric: (1) programmed speech content, (2) the verticalisation of political communication, (3) the new biases produced by digital media, and (4) the rhetorical machine learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era when public faith in politicians is dwindling, yet trust in scientists remains relatively high, governments are increasingly emphasizing the role of science based policy-making in response to challenges such as climate change and global pandemics. In this paper we question the quality of some scientific advice given to governments and the robustness and transparency of the entire framework which envelopes such advice, all of which raise serious ethical concerns. In particular we focus on the so-called Imperial Model which heavily influenced the government of the United Kingdom in devising its response to the COVID-19 crisis. We focus on and highlight several fundamental methodological flaws of the model, raise concerns as to the robustness of the system which permitted these to remain unchallenged, and discuss the relevant ethical consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychological research frequently encounters criticism regarding the representativeness of the samples under study, highlighting concerns about the external validity of the obtained results. Here, we conducted a comprehensive survey of all the quantitative samples from the journal Body Image for 2021 (n = 149 samples). Our primary objective was to examine the extent to which the sampled populations deviated from the population at large, which could potentially compromise the generalizability of findings. We identified that a substantial number of these samples came from student populations (n = 44) and the majority were from the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Only a small number of samples (n = 9) employed direct measurements of body mass index (BMI), while the majority relied on self-reported data (n = 93). For a subset of samples in the journal, which were drawn from the general population, we compared whether these differed from population reference values in terms of age and BMI. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we found that samples tended to be younger and score lower on BMI than reference values obtained from the broader population. Samples drawn from female university students also tended to be lower on BMI than age-matched reference samples. We discuss the implications of our findings and make recommendations on sampling and inference. We conclude that a clearer specification of the parameters or conditions under which findings are expected to generalise has the potential to enhance the overall rigor and validity of this field of research., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest No conflict of interests are known to the authors., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: The process of informed consent for enrolment to a clinical research study can be complex for both participants and research staff. Challenges include respecting the potential participant's autonomy and information needs while simultaneously providing adequate information to enable an informed decision. Qualitative research with small sample sizes has added to our understanding of these challenges. However, there is value in garnering the perspectives of research participants and staff across larger samples to explore the impact of contextual factors (time spent, the timing of the discussion and the setting), on the informed consent process.Methods: Research staff and research participants from Ireland and the UK were invited to complete an anonymous survey by post or online (research participants) and online (research staff). The surveys aimed to quantify the perceptions of research participants and staff regarding some contextual factors about the process of informed consent. The survey, which contained 14 and 16 multiple choice questions for research participants and staff respectively, was analysed using descriptive statistics. Both surveys included one optional, open-ended question, which were analysed thematically.Results: Research participants (169) and research staff (115) completed the survey. Research participants were predominantly positive about the informed consent process but highlighted the importance of having sufficient time and the value of providing follow-up once the study concludes, e.g. providing results to participants. Most staff (74.4%) staff reported that they felt very confident or confident facilitating informed consent discussions, but 63% felt information leaflets were too long and/or complicated, 56% were concerned about whether participants had understood complex information and 40% felt that time constraints were a barrier. A dominant theme from the open-ended responses to the staff survey was the importance of adequate time and resources.Conclusions: Research participants in this study were overwhelmingly positive about their experience of the informed consent process. However, research staff expressed concern about how much participants have understood and studies of patient comprehension of research study information would seem to confirm these fears. This study highlights the importance of allocating adequate time to informed consent discussions, and research staff could consider using Teach Back techniques.Trial Registration: Not applicable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Vignettes are regularly used in nursing research and education to explore complex clinical situations. However, paper-based vignettes lack clinical realism and do not fully recreate the pressures, sights and sounds of clinical settings, limiting their usefulness when studying complex decision-making processes. Aim: To discuss the approach taken by the authors in developing and implementing audiovisual vignettes to collect data remotely in a qualitative study. Discussion: The authors describe how they created audiovisual vignettes for a qualitative 'Think Aloud' study exploring how critical care nurses decide whether to restrain agitated patients with varying degrees of psychomotor agitation. They discuss the practicalities of filming, editing and hosting, as well as the theoretical and clinical background that informed the creation of the vignettes. Conclusion: Audiovisual vignettes are a cost- and time-effective way of remotely exploring decision-making in challenging environments. This innovative method assists in studying decision-making under simulated clinical pressures and captures data about how people make complex decisions. Implications for practice: Audiovisual vignettes are an innovative tool for collecting data and could also be used in educational settings and offer the opportunity to explore complex clinical decision making remotely. Clinical accuracy is essential for immersing participants and simulating an environment and its pressures. The method could be further enhanced by making vignettes responsive to participants' decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out the rationale and process for the interviewing methodology utilized during a 3-year research pilot, 'Moving Health Upstream in Urban Development' (UPSTREAM). The project had two primary aims: firstly, to attempt to value economically the health cost benefits associated with the quality of urban environments and secondly, to engage with those in control of urban development in the UK in order to determine what are the barriers to and opportunities for creating healthy urban environments, including those identified through the utilisation of economic valuation. Engagement at senior level with those who have most control over key facets of planning and development implementation-such as land disposal, investment, development delivery and planning permission-was central to the approach, which encompassed the adoption of 'elite interviewing', a method developed in the USA in the 1950s and used in the political sciences but relatively unutilized in the health and environmental sciences [1]. Two rounds of semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 15 senior decision-makers from the UK's main urban development delivery agencies, both public and private. The 'elite interviewing' approach successfully enabled the UPSTREAM project to capture and analyse the information received from the interviewees, all of whom held influential or leadership posts in organisations that are important actors in the process of planning, developing and constructing the built environment in the UK. Having academic and practitioner research leads on an equal footing created some minor tensions, but it also appeared to strengthen the rigor of the approach through a broad knowledge of context 'in-house'. This form of co-production at times challenged academic traditions in qualitative analysis, but it also appeared to build trust with interviewees and provided greater clarity of the real-world context under investigation. Findings from this study are written up in a separate paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reflexivity constitutes a core component of qualitative research and has been actively integrated into long-term and "lone ranger" approaches to qualitative research. However, its application to team-based approaches and particularly to rapid qualitative team-based approaches continues to lag behind. In this article, we introduce a reflexivity model we developed for teams undertaking rapid qualitative studies. Utilizing our most recent application of this model to a rapid qualitative appraisal of health care workers' experiences delivering care during the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study, we identify the steps to put this model into practice and its main outcomes. Our application of the model revealed that the team's practices could be grouped along four dimensions: design assumptions, data collection and analysis processes, multidisciplinary collaboration, and responsible dissemination. Reflexivity can improve the relations within the team and the quality of the research output, if it is implemented as a continuous and iterative process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The use of electronic patient records for assessing outcomes in clinical trials is a methodological strategy intended to drive faster and more cost-efficient acquisition of results. The aim of this manuscript was to outline the data collection and management considerations of a maternity and perinatal clinical trial using data from electronic patient records, exemplifying the DESiGN Trial as a case study.Methods: The DESiGN Trial is a cluster randomised control trial assessing the effect of a complex intervention versus standard care for identifying small for gestational age foetuses. Data on maternal/perinatal characteristics and outcomes including infants admitted to neonatal care, parameters from foetal ultrasound and details of hospital activity for health-economic evaluation were collected at two time points from four types of electronic patient records held in 22 different electronic record systems at the 13 research clusters. Data were pseudonymised on site using a bespoke Microsoft Excel macro and securely transferred to the central data store. Data quality checks were undertaken. Rules for data harmonisation of the raw data were developed and a data dictionary produced, along with rules and assumptions for data linkage of the datasets. The dictionary included descriptions of the rationale and assumptions for data harmonisation and quality checks.Results: Data were collected on 182,052 babies from 178,350 pregnancies in 165,397 unique women. Data availability and completeness varied across research sites; each of eight variables which were key to calculation of the primary outcome were completely missing in median 3 (range 1-4) clusters at the time of the first data download. This improved by the second data download following clarification of instructions to the research sites (each of the eight key variables were completely missing in median 1 (range 0-1) cluster at the second time point). Common data management challenges were harmonising a single variable from multiple sources and categorising free-text data, solutions were developed for this trial.Conclusions: Conduct of clinical trials which use electronic patient records for the assessment of outcomes can be time and cost-effective but still requires appropriate time and resources to maximise data quality. A difficulty for pregnancy and perinatal research in the UK is the wide variety of different systems used to collect patient data across maternity units. In this manuscript, we describe how we managed this and provide a detailed data dictionary covering the harmonisation of variable names and values that will be helpful for other researchers working with these data.Trial Registration: Primary registry and trial identifying number: ISRCTN 67698474 . Registered on 02/11/16. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Randomised controlled trials ('trials') are susceptible to poor participant recruitment and retention. Studies Within A Trial are the strongest methods for testing the effectiveness of strategies to improve recruitment and retention. However, relatively few of these have been conducted., Objectives: PROMoting THE Use of Studies Within A Trial aimed to facilitate at least 25 Studies Within A Trial evaluating recruitment or retention strategies. We share our experience of delivering the PROMoting THE Use of Studies Within A Trial programme, and the lessons learnt for undertaking randomised Studies Within A Trial., Design: A network of 10 Clinical Trials Units and 1 primary care research centre committed to conducting randomised controlled Studies Within A Trial of recruitment and/or retention strategies was established. Promising recruitment and retention strategies were identified from various sources including Cochrane systematic reviews, the Study Within A Trial Repository, and existing prioritisation exercises, which were reviewed by patient and public members to create an initial priority list of seven recruitment and eight retention interventions. Host trial teams could apply for funding and receive support from the PROMoting THE Use of Studies Within A Trial team to undertake Studies Within A Trial. We also tested the feasibility of undertaking co-ordinated Studies Within A Trial, across multiple host trials simultaneously., Setting: Clinical trials unit-based trials recruiting or following up participants in any setting in the United Kingdom were eligible., Participants: Clinical trials unit-based teams undertaking trials in any clinical context in the United Kingdom., Interventions: Funding of up to £5000 and support from the PROMoting THE Use of Studies Within A Trial team to design, implement and report Studies Within A Trial., Main Outcome Measures: Number of host trials funded., Results: Forty-two Studies Within A Trial were funded (31 host trials), across 12 Clinical Trials Units. The mean cost of a Study Within A Trial was £3535. Twelve Studies Within A Trial tested the same strategy across multiple host trials using a co-ordinated Study Within A Trial design, and four used a factorial design. Two recruitment and five retention strategies were evaluated in more than one host trial. PROMoting THE Use of Studies Within A Trial will add 18% more Studies Within A Trial to the Cochrane systematic review of recruitment strategies, and 79% more Studies Within A Trial to the Cochrane review of retention strategies. For retention, we found that pre-notifying participants by card, letter or e-mail before sending questionnaires was effective, as was the use of pens, and sending personalised text messages to improve questionnaire response. We highlight key lessons learnt to guide others planning Studies Within A Trial, including involving patient and public involvement partners; prioritising and selecting strategies to evaluate and elements to consider when designing a Study Within A Trial; obtaining governance approvals; implementing Studies Within A Trial, including individual and co-ordinated Studies Within A Trials; and reporting Study Within A Trials., Limitations: The COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted five Studies Within A Trial, being either delayed ( n  = 2) or prematurely terminated ( n  = 3)., Conclusions: PROMoting THE Use of Studies Within A Trial significantly increased the evidence base for recruitment and retention strategies. When provided with both funding and practical support, host trial teams successfully implemented Studies Within A Trial., Future Work: Future research should identify and target gaps in the evidence base, including widening Study Within A Trial uptake, undertaking more complex Studies Within A Trial and translating Study Within A Trial evidence into practice., Study Registration: All Studies Within A Trial in the PROMoting THE Use of Studies Within A Trial programme had to be registered with the Northern Ireland Network for Trials Methodology Research Study Within A Trial Repository., Funding: This award was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme (NIHR award ref: 13/55/80) and is published in full in Health Technology Assessment ; Vol. 28, No. 2. See the NIHR Funding and Awards website for further award information.

This Article provides a novel insight into how earlycareer scholars in the UK may combine different theoretical tools in their research, and the implications that this may have for the socio-legal discipline. This Article draws upon the author's experience of combining theoretical tools from different schools of thought: Feminist legal theory, Bourdieusian theory, and Actor Network Theory, within the context of recent research into experiences of those representing themselves in family court hearings in England and Wales. Combining these theories for the first time, this Article explores the difficulties, tensions, and benefits of combining tools within socio-legal research and reflects upon the influence of the pedagogical and institutional resources that characterize the socio-legal research environment in the UK. This Article argues that the task of combining different tools provides scholars with the opportunity to work politically, because the process of reconciling tensions between different approaches requires researchers to reflect upon the worldviews that underpin their selected theories. In this sense, it argues that combining different theories within socio-legal research is a political activity, because researchers are required to reflect not only on how theoretical choices may contest, expand, or develop dominant assumptions that characterize socio-legal scholarly traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contribution analysis (CA) is being increasingly favoured as a policy evaluation tool. This includes application to evaluate alcohol and drug policies. This paper reflects on one such example and begins by providing a brief overview of CA as an evaluative research method. It then describes the way in which CA was applied to evaluate alcohol and drug policy in Wales, one of the constituent countries of the UK. This paper reports on two issues. First, how the theory of CA was translated into practice. Second, the key learning points for us as evaluators that arose out of the utilisation of this method. The article highlights that our use of CA enabled a rich exploration of programmes within their contextual setting, and had a range of limitations and considerable challenges associated with identifying and explaining causalities. Within these methodological discussions, we also illustrate how the policy was more successful in elements closer to its nomenclature framing; i.e. harm reduction, than it was to other incorporated aims. The analysis presented in this paper will be useful across a range of jurisdictions where the need to evaluate drug and alcohol policy and practice initiatives may arise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The escalating cost of modern healthcare is threatening the fundamental "free at the point of delivery" principle of the UK National Health Services. A new remuneration system using a fixed tariff for pre-assigned diagnostic groups caters poorly for the heterogeneity of burn injuries. This study was to develop a system for Patient Level Costing (PLC), the first steps of which were to determine the true cost of burn care at service level.Methods: Detailed interrogation was conducted of the cost of care in our Burns & Plastic Surgery Department. Costs were determined through the amalgamation of two fundamental methodologies: (1) Top-Down Costing (from detailed budgetary analysis for the hospital) and (2) Bottom-Up Costing (detailed itemised costing of staff, equipment, drugs, consumables & maintenance). These costs were categorised & using various apportionment tools, traced to specific care areas.Results: We demonstrated that the accuracy of costs derived by host organisations cannot be relied upon (our Burn Service was 62% more expensive than estimated by our host organisation), which therefore questions the accuracy of most published work on burn care costing based upon these assumptions. Using our costing model, an analysis was made of the cost of running the Department with zero activity but "open & ready for business". Costs such as drugs and consumables were thus removed. This demonstrated that despite no clinical activity, costs still remained at 90% of full occupancy cost and are thus fixed costs.Conclusions: We hope application of this new system of Patient Level Costing to burn care will avoid the threatened viability of burn services imposed by changes in remuneration, although it will inevitably be an iterative process. A fuller understanding of the true cost of healthcare, facilitates service development and planning, both at a local and national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite progress in integrating sustainability into operations and corporate strategies many companies struggle to see substantial improvements in their environmental practices. The literature offers a preponderance of systems and analytical tools in the field of operations management literature but neglects the soft management factors also believed to be crucial for bringing about change and employee participation. Fundamentally we still lack knowledge about the best ways to engage people and organisations in sustainable practices. To address this gap, we examine both best and poor practices in seven UK ISO 14001 certified manufacturers to explore the intervention mechanisms of soft key success factors (KSF) which enhance environmental practice. This paper has two contributions. First, it clarifies the function of KSFs as antecedent and intervention variables and their role in affecting environmental practice. Second, it develops precise propositions which explain the pathways of four intervention mechanisms as mediators between antecedents and environmental practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methodological pedagogy within contemporary British social science higher education (through methods courses, textbooks, etc.) constitutes the process through which the researcher is formed, and research designed. It is our contention that methodology – whether positivist or post-positivist – is a form of knowing predicated upon the severance of theory from practice. Methodology presents these as distinct areas, which can only be unified through the synthetic operations of methodological approaches. We argue that the consequence of the separation of theory and practice is that the realm of practice is construed as raw material – as data – to be harvested in the research process, whilst theory is seen as detached from geohistorical–political relations. This serves a neo-colonial process of academic extractivism. We will demonstrate how this is so through an examination of popular methodological textbooks and approaches, highlighting the absence of considerations of contemporary coloniality. We then set out a tentative pedagogical alternative in the form of practical reflexivity and dialogical research. We will show how such approaches are emergent within the social sciences and how they offer a decolonial alternative to contemporary methodological approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Trainee research collaboratives (TRCs) have pioneered high quality, prospective 'snap-shot' surgical cohort studies in the UK. Outcomes After Kidney injury in Surgery (OAKS) was the first TRC cohort study to attempt to collect one-year follow-up data. The aims of this study were to evaluate one-year follow-up and data completion rates, and to identify factors associated with improved follow-up rates.Methods: In this multicentre study, patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery were prospectively identified and followed up at one-year following surgery for six clinical outcomes. The primary outcome for this report was the follow-up rate for mortality at 1 year. The secondary outcome was the data completeness rate in those patients who were followed-up. An electronic survey was disseminated to investigators to identify strategies associated with improved follow-up.Results: Of the 173 centres that collected baseline data, 126 centres registered to participate in one-year follow-up. Overall 62.3% (3482/5585) of patients were followed-up at 1 year; in centres registered to collect one-year outcomes, the follow-up rate was 82.6% (3482/4213). There were no differences in sex, comorbidity, operative urgency, or 7-day postoperative AKI rate between patients who were lost to follow-up and those who were successfully followed-up. In centres registered to collect one-year follow-up outcomes, overall data completeness was 83.1%, with 57.9% (73/126) of centres having ≥95% data completeness. Factors associated with increased likelihood of achieving ≥95% data completeness were total number of patients to be followed-up (77.4% in centres with < 15 patients, 59.0% with 15-29 patients, 51.4% with 30-59 patients, and 36.8% with > 60 patients, p = 0.030), and central versus local storage of patient identifiers (72.5% vs 48.0%, respectively, p = 0.006).Conclusions: TRC methodology can be used to follow-up patients identified in prospective cohort studies at one-year. Follow-up rates are maximized by central storage of patient identifiers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an examination of the ways in which managers implement market segmentation. Market segmentation practices are examined in the context of the UK apparel retail sector. A qualitative research framework, which draws on Weick's (1995a) sensemaking approach, is adopted. Managerial insights are evidenced through a key-informant interviewing method within 10 case-organisations. The results indicate a number of plausible, managerial reasons for not pursuing sophisticated segmentation solutions. An underlying issue is a widely held belief in the adequacy and manageability of gross-level, descriptive segmentation approaches. Market segmentation was also seen as a managerial concept from which to inform decision-making but not for determining it or supplanting it. Segmentation thus represents an important sensemaking tool, often for communicative purposes. According to evidence revealed in this inquiry, contemporary applications and uses of market segmentation no longer provide synergy with the methodological and conceptual foundations of the concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the Research Methods programme of the Economic and Social Research Council and discusses some of the methodological developments in the academic sector that can have relevance to the non-academic market research community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in services marketing has recognised the role of brands as aids to customers' decision making, particularly in situations where credence qualities and perceived risk may be high. In practice, there is limited empirical evidence for the role played by brands in highly intangible contexts such as financial services. This paper explores the role of the brand in relation to bank selection by small business customers in two culturally distinct countries, namely Egypt and the UK. The results indicate that there is considerable similarity in the role played by brands in both countries and suggest that greater emphasis should be placed on brands when developing marketing strategies for the small business market [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The charity retail sector has seen unprecedented growth in the UK over the past ten years. Alongside this growth charities have become progressively professionalised and commercialized University of Stirling and have begun to adopt strategies developed in commercial retail contexts. This paper unpacks this process of professionalisation examining exactly what it constitutes on the ground. It then goes on to consider in turn how this new professionalism has impacted on store managers. The paper closes in considering the challenges represented by these requirements and offers some suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data based on questionnaire measures from parents in New Zealand, the UK, and Sweden on attitudes toward advertising to children is presented. There is cross-national evidence that attitudes in this area are affectively strong and consistent and data is presented on responses to particular attitude statements that support this claim. An exploratory factor analysis on the Swedish and UK data suggests a factor structure in respondents with both positive and negative attitudinal clusters toward advertising to children. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research in order that the international debate on advertising and marketing to children is informed by cross-cultural research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considers the role of nonprofit funders in stimulating merger activity in the U.K. voluntary sector. Provides the first empirical evidence of the impact of a nonprofit merger on subsequent fundraising and marketing activity. Based on a series of 12 elite interviews with senior personnel who have experienced a nonprofit merger, the article concludes that the implications will vary by category of funding sought and that, for example, individual donors who might previously have been supporting both organisations will only offer one gift (at the previous gift level) to the merged organisation [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whilst the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) has generated much research interest, many market researchers are divided over the addition of further constructs to the model. The TRA and its many modifications have been applied in numerous behavioural contexts, however, research to-date has neglected an emerging group of 'ethical' consumers. This paper outlines results from a recent survey of over 1400 UK consumers that applied the TRA to this complex area of decision making. Using readers to the 'Ethical Consumer' magazine, the study addresses issues involving proposed model modifications--specifically, the addition of control, ethical obligation and self-identity. Management implications of the findings are discussed, including the importance of understanding consumers' self-identification with ethical issues in marketing communications programmes; and the underlying potential importance of ethical issues to mainstream consumer groups. Finally, the need to develop conceptually as well as practically robust techniques by using Structural Equation Modelling, which represents the next stage in this research, is outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the findings of a survey of UK marketing academics undertaken in 1998/1999. In part it is a follow-up to a survey undertaken by Diamantopoulos, Schlegelmilch and Neate-Stidson (1992) and, in part, a replication of a survey of members of the Academy of Marketing Science details of which are reported elsewhere in this Journal. While the survey data cannot claim to be representative of the UK marketing academy it is believed to provide a reasonably accurate profile of who we are, what we do, and what are our major interests and concerns. These findings are compared with the earlier 1991 survey and those of Polonsky and Mankelow (2000). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a tendency to exclude people with intellectual disabilities from participating in research about their own lives. While the use of participatory research approaches is increasing, the methods used for engaging people with intellectual disabilities in research are generally limited to interviews and focus groups. Yet a focus on the spoken or written word can present a challenge for those who may prefer to use alternative forms of communication. The purpose of this article is to share the methodological insights gained from a visual ethnographic study that sought to explore the experiences of people with intellectual disabilities engaged in nature based (or "green care") therapeutic interventions for health and well-being. If used within carefully negotiated relationships, we suggest that video can be an empowering visual medium for doing research that can help to elicit the experiences of people with intellectual disabilities firsthand, without having to rely on the views and perspectives of other people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We approach a significant research topic in international economics by restating the test procedures in a novel manner consistent with monetary theorems with controls using monetary variables and applying an appropriate econometric methodology to re-examine three aspects of exchange rate behavior. (i) Does the inflation (price) factor affect Nominal Exchange Rate (NER)? (ii) Do relative interest rates between countries affect a country's exchange rate? (iii) Do the price and interest rate effects hold if controls for non-parity factors are embedded in tests? The data series for this study are taken over 55 years covering pre-and-post-Bretton Woods era: a second test was done over the post-Bretton Woods period only using 30 years of data. Also, the traditional factors of parity conditions are extended in this research to take into account recently theorized and tested non-parity factors related to cash flows. The resulting evidence affirms clearly that both the parity factors (prices and interest rates) and the non-parity factors affect exchange rates significantly over the long run, also over the 30-year period. In our view, these findings extend our knowledge of how currency behavior is consistent with parity and non-parity theorems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The belief that soccer offers black Britons an avenue of social mobility is challenged in this study. Examination of their involvement reveals that blacks have suffered both overt and tacit discrimination. Subject to racial abuse from spectators, black Britons also appear to experience a process of "stacking," apparently related to the concept of centrality. In conducting this study, research data and methodologies from North America and Britain were combined, and the concept of centrality was refined in order to apply it to soccer. The evidence supports the contention that blacks are assigned to positions by white managers on the basis of racial stereotypes of abilities. Future research needs to examine this dimension more closely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite cultural similarities between the United States and the United Kingdom, there are substantial differences between American and British television advertising. British commercials tend to contain less information, employ a soft sell rather than a hard sell approach, and attempt to entertain the viewer. British viewers' opinions of advertising are also more favorable than those of American viewers. It is important that scholars and practitioners concerned with these two markets and with international advertising generally be aware of these differences and understand why they have evolved. Possible explanations are evaluated and implications of these findings discussed, including areas for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates research on the impact of chief executive officers on corporate performance, taking Lieberson and O'Connor's pathbreaking study as its starting point. Although that study is commonly regarded as the principal source of empirical support for the view that leaders have little impact on organizational performance because they are constrained by situational factors, it is argued here that the study and its derivatives have provided consistent and compelling evidence that individual leaders do make a difference. The results of a study of large retail firms in the United Kingdom, designed to overcome the methodological problems of earlier studies of leadership and performance, are presented in support of this argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of product replacement is a surprisingly neglected area of innovation. Its existence as an important corporate activity is known through prior research and anecdotal evidence This study was designed to shed some light on the replacement activities which are conducted by large companies in Britain and America The findings revealed a number of different approaches to product replacement and suggested that related activities can be understood (and measured) by seven distract dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing awareness that the ways in which academic research is conducted could be improved. A number of exciting innovations are emerging, alongside a broader agenda that includes a growing emphasis on open research. This short article outlines the rationale, progress and plans of the UK Reproducibility Network, which is one of a growing number of similar initiatives internationally that promote more rigorous and transparent research. • The UK Reproducibility Network enables collaboration to improve research quality. • It now has communities in over 60 UK institutions, and over 30 formal members. • It supports open research, rigour, transparency and quality across disciplines. • There are now 15 Reproducibility Networks internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate how students’ voices are enacted in reform processes and in research on reforms. Our theoretical stance on the concept of reform is performative and onto-epistemological; thus, we understand reforming as an entangled multiplicity, co-emerging and co-morphing. Reforming reconfigure what ‘is’ and intra-act with what is already there. The article focus on a reform of the Danish primary and secondary school. We work with three different cases, each with a different data-set, and analyse how research methodologies and findings in the field of reform research constitute ‘the student’ and ‘student voice’ as well as we look into dynamics of how reforms shape and change what counts as voices and how voices change and shape reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new conceptual framework for the study of supervision, called a ‘semi-open supervision systems model’ or supervision model. It was developed for a research study funded by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) in England, UK. The supervision model was needed because the evidence base for supervision was weak and under-developed, and the theoretical base insubstantial. The supervision model was developed using systems theory and was informed by policy developments, which are normally excluded from supervision research. The research team was tasked with collecting evidence of good and/or innovative supervision at a time of significant service transformation across adult care settings in England and Northern Ireland. The research design was informed by the supervision model and researchers used a mixed methodology for data collection and analysis. This paper examines how the supervision model was developed and used in the study, and concludes by reviewing its contribution to the field of supervision study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background In recent years there has been much emphasis on ‘research waste’ caused by poor question selection, insufficient attention to previous research results, and avoidable weakness in research design, conduct and analysis. Little attention has been paid to the effect of inadequate development of interventions before proceeding to a full clinical trial. Objective We therefore propose to enrich the development phase of the MRC Framework by adding crucial elements to improve the likelihood of success and enhance the fit with clinical practice Methods Based on existing intervention development guidance and synthesis, a comprehensive iterative intervention development approach is proposed. Examples from published reports are presented to illustrate the methodology that can be applied within each element to enhance the intervention design. Results A comprehensive iterative approach is presented by combining the elements of the MRC Framework development phase with essential elements from existing guidance including: problem identification, the systematic identification of evidence, identification or development of theory, determination of needs, the examination of current practice and context, modelling the process and expected outcomes leading to final element: the intervention design. All elements are drawn from existing models to provide intervention developers with a greater chance of producing an intervention that is well adopted, effective and fitted to the context. Conclusion This comprehensive approach of developing interventions will strengthen the internal and external validity, minimize research waste and add value to health care research. In complex interventions in health care research, flaws in the development process immediately impact the chances of success. Knowledge regarding the causal mechanisms and interactions within the intended clinical context is needed to develop interventions that fit daily practice and are beneficial for the end-user. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the mutual disruption and support of economic growth and health improvement in the last 500 years in the UK.Design/methodology/approach The paper is a general review and it compares institutional development, public policy, technological advances and scientific discoveries in economic growth with those in health improvement.Findings The paper finds the co-existence of slower economic growth and less increasing life expectancy from 1541 to 1871 and that of faster economic growth and rising life expectancy from 1871 to 2001. It is organized health improvement that effectively propelled economic growth in the time span of 1871-2001.Research limitations/implications The findings may contribute to the literature on mutual enhancement between economic growth and health improvement.Practical implications The findings may also provide implications to the policy makers how important organized health improvement is to economic growth.Social implications The findings show that when UK Government was leading in organized health improvement for the population, economic grown got propelled into a faster lane.Originality/value This paper is among the first to unveil that a socially responsible government has permanent impact on the paths of both economic and social growth. It has value to other researchers attempting to understand the mutual disruption and support of economic growth and health improvement in the historical UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Internationalisation has been a theme in UK higher education for a decade or more. The review of this paper, a practice-based case study, is to find how Winchester formulated two successive internationalisation strategies.Design/methodology/approach The strategies were developed using a research-oriented method: grounded in the literature and an institutional development model, the work included a comprehensive survey of the university’s existing international engagement, two rounds of structured discussions with senior staff, and a formal organisational development process.Findings The survey of the university’s international engagement was a most useful exercise. It revealed a substantial and diverse range of engagement which provided confidence that the aim to be a “fully internationalised university” was realistic. There was general agreement that Winchester must demonstrate strong levels of engagement through five strategic priorities related to: curriculum and student mobility; European Union/international staff and students; collaboration with international organisations; academic and social integration of students and staff; coordination of practices and processes.Research limitations/implications This is a case study of one UK university.Practical implications The process by which the strategies were developed should be relevant to other universities.Social implications Winchester is “Values Driven University”: “We value freedom, justice, truth, human rights and collective effort for the common good”. Internationalisation is consistent with these values, fostering an understanding of diverse cultures and an awareness of global issues.Originality/value The authors found no published work describing such a structured and participative process for developing internationalisation strategies within a university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I summarise Kaldor’s “stylised facts” approach to economics through the lens of his 1966 inaugural lecture at Cambridge, “Causes of the Slow Rate of Economic Growth of the United Kingdom”. I then defend this approach as a way of preventing economics from ossifying into pure formalism, fielding objections stemming from the Lucas critique, the advancement of econometrics, and the argument that stylised facts must depend on some prior theory. Finally, I argue that modern economics could benefit not only from his “stylised fact” approach, but also from his speculative boldness and substantive contributions to economic theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the conceptual and methodological challenges facing two researchers investigating the development of interdisciplinary curricula in two new secondary schools, one in the UK and one in New Zealand. It is a discussion of research in progress that will be of interest to readers because of both the methodological challenges discussed and the research area itself. The key issue we identify is one for both researchers and teachers: how might the concepts and perspective of one discipline be brought into a relationship with another to enable deep learning? This question in turn highlights a key methodological challenge: developing the means to describe and evaluate new forms of curricular design and implementation where a traditional discipline-based curriculum has been rejected in favour of interdisciplinary ones. The integrative aims of interdisciplinarity are also examined. We employ Bernstein's (2000) concept of knowledge structures and languages of description to theorise a continuum of approaches to curriculum integration, from functional to principled. This methodological manoeuvre is made possible by the development of a translation device. This procedural mechanism makes accessible to analysis the organising principles that are in play in the interdisciplinary curriculum design practices we have observed. We conclude with recommendations for the interdisciplinary curriculum researcher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]