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Thinking and writing critically

Dr Elaine Ball University of Salford

8/25/12

The session aims to help:

Formulate ideas concerning the interpretation of new knowledge through the research process, of a quality to satisfy formative assessment Develop the capacity to make connections between relevant 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 voce Provide a highly developed defence of your thesis

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Do you recognise this thinking?

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ETHNOGRAPHY

Organisation of care Coping strategies Pain assessment & practice

} Factors that compromise pain management practices } with older people

FACILITATION

CONTEXT CULTURE LEADERSHIP

PARIHS
FRAMEWORK EVIDENCE EVALUATION

8/25/12

ETHNOGRAPHY

Organisation of care Coping strategies Pain assessment & practice

} Factors that compromise pain management practices } with older people

FACILITATION

CONTEXT CULTURE LEADERSHIP

PARIHS
FRAMEWORK EVIDENCE EVALUATION

TWO YEAR ACTION RESEARCH STUDY

REFLECTIVE CYCLES

COMMUNICATION

INTERRUPTIONS

PAIN ASSESSMENT

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ETHNOG RAP HY

Organisation of care Coping strategies Pain assessment & practice

} Factors that compromise pain management practices } with older people

FACILITATION

CONTEXT CULTURE LEADERSHIP

PARIHS
FRAMEWORK

EVALUATION EVIDENCE

REFLECTIVE CYCL ES

COMMUNICATION

INTERRUPTIONS

PAIN ASSESSMENT

8/25/12

ETHNOGRAPHY

Organisation of care Coping strategies Pain assessment & practice

} Factors that compromise pain management practices } with older people

FACILITATION

CONTEXT CULTURE LEADERSHIP

PARIHS
FRAMEWORK EVIDENCE EVALUATION

REFLECTIVE CYCLES

COMMUNICATION POWER

INTERRUPTIONS

PAIN ASSESSMENT

AUTONOMY HORIZONTAL VIOLENCE

CONCEPTUAL THEMES
OPPRESSION

TRUST

SUPPORT (or lack of)

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Autonomy

ETHNOGRAPHY

Organisation of care Coping strategies Pain assessment & practice

} Factors that compromise pain management practices } with older people

FACILITATION

CONTEXT CULTURE LEADERSHIP

PAR IHS
FRAMEWORK

EVALUATION EVIDENCE

REFLECTIVE CYCLES

COMMUNICATION

INTERRUPTIONS

PAIN ASSESSMENT

POWER
CONCEPTUAL THEMES
OPPRESSION

AUTONOMY

HORIZONTAL VIOLENCE

TRUST

SUPPORT (or lack of)

DISTORTED PERCEPTION S

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Horizontal violence
Organisation of care Coping strategies Pain assessment & practice } Factors that compromise pain management practices } with older people

ETHNOGRAPHY

FACILITATION

CONTEXT CULTURE LEADERSHIP

PARIHS
FRAMEWORK

EVALUATION EVIDENCE

REFLECTIVE CYCLES

COMMUNICATION

INTERRUPTIONS

PAIN ASSESSMENT

POWER
CONCEPTUAL THEMES

AUTONOMY

HORIZONTAL VIOLENCE
OPPRESSION

TRUST

SUPPORT (or lack of)

DISTORTED PERCEPTIONS

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Oppression
Organisation of care Coping strategies Pain assessment & practice } Factors that compromise pain management practices } with older people

ETHNOGRAPHY

FACILITATION

CONTEXT CULTURE LEADERSHIP

PARIHS
FRAMEWORK

EVALUATION EVIDENCE

REFLECTIVE CYCLES

COMMUNICATION

INTERRUPTIONS

PAIN ASSESSMENT

POWER
CONCEPTUAL THEMES

AUTONOMY

HORIZONTAL VIOLENCE
OPPRESSION

TRUST

SUPPORT (or lack of)

DISTORTED PERCEPTIONS

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Psychological safety
Organisation of care Coping strategies Pain assessment & practice } Factors that compromise pain management practices } with older people

ETHNOGRAPHY

FACILITATION

CONTEXT CULTURE LEADERSHIP

PARIHS
FRAMEWORK

EVALUATION EVIDENCE

REFLECTIVE CYCLES

COMMUNICATION

INTERRUPTIONS

PAIN ASSESSMENT

POWER
CONCEPTUAL THEMES

AUTONOMY

HORIZONTAL VIOLENCE
OPPRESSION

TRUST

SUPPORT (or lack of)

DISTORTED PERCEPTIONS

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Distorted perceptions
Organisation of care Coping strategies Pain assessment & practice } Factors that compromise pain management practices } with older people

ETHNOGRAPHY

FACILITATION

CONTEXT CULTURE LEADERSHIP

PARIHS
FRAMEWORK

EVALUATION EVIDENCE

REFLECTIVE CYCLES

COMMUNICATION

INTERRUPTIONS

PAIN ASSESSMENT

POWER
CONCEPTUAL THEME

AUTONOMY

HORIZONTAL VIOLENCE
OPPRESSION

TRUST

SUPPORT (or lack of)

DISTORTED PERCEPTION S

8/25/12

Power
Organisation of care Coping strategies Pain assessment & practice } Factors that compromise pain management practices } with older people

ETHNOGRAPHY

FACILITATION

CONTEXT CULTURE LEADERSHIP

PARIHS
FRAMEWORK

EVALUATION EVIDENCE

REFLECTIVE CYCLES

COMMUNICATION

INTERRUPTIONS

PAIN ASSESSMENT

POWER
CONCEPTUAL THEMES
OPPRESSION

AUTONOMY

HORIZONTAL VIOLENCE

TRUST

SUPPORT (or lack of)

DISTORTED PERCEPTION S

8/25/12

Leadership

ETHNOGRAPHY

Organisation of care Coping strategies Pain assessment & practice

} Factors that compromise pain management practices } with older people

FACILITATION

CONTEXT CULTURE LEADERSHIP

PAR IHS
FRAMEWORK

EVALUATION EVIDENCE

REFLECTIVE CYCLES

COMMUNICATION

INTERRUPTIO

NS

PAIN ASSESSMENT

POWER
CONCEPTUAL THEMES
OPPRESSION

AUTONOMY

HORIZONTAL VIOLENCE

TRUST

SUPPORT (or lack of)

DISTORTED PERCEPTION S

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All connections

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Identification of need in stages

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 and selection

Metaphysical philosophy Structuralist & poststructuralist thought (i.e. Roland Barthes, 1960s70s) Capturing Diachronic & Synchronic moments in time

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With synthesis you develop an important doctoral study skill:

organize information and relate it to the research you are developing synthesize results into a summary of what is and is not known

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Construct synthesis table

Author Purpose Methods Sample Findings Critical comments Limited methods but FG confirmatory . Important to project.

Baptiste and Drennan (1999)

Explore Qualitative HVs, DNs, relationship postal PNs, GPs between questionnaire + members of 1 FG of 6 SNs 42% primary health response care teams & (n=57) school nurses

4 themes awareness of service, perceptions of SN role, inter professional relationships, improving communication.

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Synthesis table contd example:

Definitions of community development
Definition Key concepts Author A process that stresses working withWorking with people. Minkler people as they define their own goals,Community defines own goals and1999. p. mobilise resources, and develop actionproblems. 261 plans for addressing problems that theyHelp community to mobilise collectively have identified resources and develop action plans A process of voluntary cooperation andCommunity self help to improveChavis & self-help/mutual aid among residents of aconditions. Florin 1990 locale aimed at the improved physical, p.2 social and economic conditions.

A way of tackling a communitys problemsEnergy and leadership of localBlack 1996 by using the energy and leadership of thepeople. p.5 people who live there. It is based on theLocal people know best what is belief that the local people understand bestneeded. the direct nature of the problems facing them

With synthesis you develop an important study skill:

information gathering: the ability to scan the literature efficiently using manual or computerized methods to identify a set of potentially useful articles and books analysis: the ability to apply principles of critical analysis to identify those studies which are relevant to your argument You will need more than a descriptive list of articles and books 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? there counter-arguments as to the meaning, nature and constitution of the topic, if so what are they? you agree with these counter-arguments?

Are Do If

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

Implications Did

the methodology of one study produce more valid results than another study?

Does

one study have more practical relevance to your project than another? 8/25/12 In other words, what is the justification for organising and

Common problems with literature reviews

Insufficiently analytical or critical or primary reports Fail to make explicit selection criteria for inclusion of literature 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 questions you need to be able, in stages, to:
1.
2. 3.

Examine, Identify and Plan

What should you have learnt from examining, identifying and planning? That you have identified other theorists positions, arguments and conclusions and, importantly, that you can evaluate their work fairly Spelling test Height & Freight What language, genre, style, grammatical structure is the writer using?

4. 5.

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Find a guiding concept

Organsie your findings according to a guiding concept such as your research 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 specific research finding Sometimes it is based on a methodological problem or challenge When you write your thesis, you should attempt to tell the "story" to your reader. Even in very formal journal articles where you will be required to be concise and detailed at the same time, a good "storyline" can help make an otherwise very dull report interesting to the reader
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The objective:
Your objective is not to rack up points by listing as many articles as possible; you want to demonstrate your ability to recognise relevant information, and to synthesise and evaluate critically information according to the guiding concepts you set You want to show what literature exists, but also your informed critical evaluation of the literature. To meet both of these needs, you must employ critical appraisal

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Definition of critical appraisal A systematic way of

considering the truthfulness of a piece of research, the results and how 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 the following statements and decide whether they are claims stating opinions or facts. Be prepared to support your choices with the group:
1.

It has, for example, been suggested that whereas health promotion programmes at the national level have successfully met their targets, at more local levels similar programmes have failed to accommodate the needs of a growing population Previous studies have strongly supported the initiative of helping pregnant women stop smoking. However, some of these studies have produced inconclusive evidence in relation to their efficacy of support programmes for pregnant smokers (e.g. Kelly et al 2001, Melvin 8/25/12 et al 2010, Gaffney 2011)

1.

At doctoral level there are three key processes: knowledge generation, supervision and assessment is your A distinguishing feature of any doctorate

application of knowledge to the research setting. You position yourself within the research, & are involved with the delivery of change You are enmeshed in the research topic. Methodologically, this must lead to the adoption of a critical and writerly approach. For example, do you take a constructivist grounded theory approach, or ontological position, or an interpretivist theoretical perspective for analysis? Your personal experiences will exert a level of influence on your thesis / research, this brings the concept of reflexivity to the fore (Alvesson and Skoldberg, 2009)8/25/12

COMMUNICATION
Management: Although functions of management such as planning, organising and controlling can be isolated, communication impacts on all management activities and cuts across all aspects of the management process How do you articulate issues and concerns so that co-workers do not become confused about priorities?

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Being critically aware also means translating accurately the needs of the (patient/client) domain more complex than Organisational communication is even

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

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Identification of need at the end needs reflection

We need to reflect on our own research practices in terms of: what role we played in producing certain kinds of knowledges how and why we came to the conclusions we did how the resultant knowledges function to shape the world and how we optimally organise our arguments to think and write critically
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Why?
.. To make unexamined metatheoretical commitments, and remain unaware of their origins, amounts to an abdication of intellectual responsibility which results in poor research practices. (Johnson & Duberley, 2003) Reflexivity helps us to attend to this: Reflexivity requires an awareness of the researcher's contribution to the construction of meanings throughout the research process, and an acknowledgment of the impossibility of remaining 'outside of' one's subject matter while conducting research. Reflexivity then, urges us "to explore the ways in which a researcher's involvement with a particular study influences, acts upon and informs such research." (Nightingale & Cromby, 1999, p. 228).
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Epistemological reflexivity
It helps us to Epistemological Engage with think about reflexivity questions the encourages us to such as: reflect upon the implications of such assumptions (about assumptions the world, about for the knowledge) that we research and have made in the its findings." How has the researchcourse of defined and limited what can be question the 'found?' How has the design of the study and the method of analysis (Willig, 2001) research and the 'constructed' the data writing up and the findings? How could the research
question have been investigated differently? To what extent would this have given rise to a different understanding of the phenomenon under investigation?
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Is it any clearer?

Communica

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tion is critical to successfully writing your critical analysis and translating the facts

The Critical Components of Communication

The critical components of communication centre upon understanding Expressing oneself successfully and being understood depend upon how the message is formulated as much as the message content.

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Thinking & writing critically (across boundaries)

Obama
1.Understands & appropriately uses informal communication network in the organisation 2.Communicates clearly in language others will understand 3.Is sensitive to the internal & external climate of sender/ receiver 4.Role models assertive communication & active listening 5.Recognises status, power, authority as barriers to manager-subordinate communication; uses communication strategies to overcome those barriers 8/25/12 6.Seeks a balance between technological
Leadershi p Roles Hamm (2006)

In Conclusion
Thinking and writing critically is extremely complex compared to other practices, the health service presents a unique personal challenge, where you have to be aware of how your thesis and its content will be received. You need to 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)

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