‘The past was never simply there to begin with and the future is not simply what will unfold’ : a posthumanist performative approach to qualitative longitudinal research

Peer reviewedPostprin

Socio-Technical Practices and Work-Home Boundaries

Recent advances in mobile technology have had many positive effects on the ways in which people can combine work and home life. For example, having remote access enables people to work from home, or work flexible hours that fit around caring responsibilities. They also support communication with colleagues and family members, and enable digital hobbies. However, the resulting 'always-online' culture can undermine work-home boundaries and cause stress to those who feel under pressure to respond immediately to digital notifications. This workshop will explore how a socio-technical perspective, which views boundaries as being constituted by everyday socio-technical practices, can inform the design of technologies that help maintain boundaries between work and home life

Research encounters, reflexivity and supervision

Reflexivity in qualitative and ethnographic social science research can provide a rich source of data, especially regarding the affective, performative and relational aspects of interviews with research subjects. This paper explores by means of three case examples different ways of accessing and using such reflexivity. The examples are drawn from an empirical psycho-social study into the identity transitions of first-time mothers in an inner-city multicultural environment. Fieldnotes and supervision were used to engage with researcher subjectivity, to enhance the productive use of reflexivity and to address the emotional work of research. The methodology of the supervision was psychoanalytic, in its use of a boundaried frame and of psychoanalytic forms of noticing oneself, of staying engaged emotionally as well as creating a reflective distance. The examples illustrate how this can enhance the knowledge gained about the research subjects

Assessment as the site of power:A Bourdieusian interrogation of service user and carer involvement in the assessments of social work students

The centrality of service user and carer involvement in social work education in England is now well established, both in policy and practice. However, research evidence suggests their involvement in student assessments is underdeveloped and under researched. This study focused on the positioning of service users and carers in relation to other stakeholders involved in the assessments of social work students in England. Using narrative research methodology, 21 participants, including service users, carers, social work students, social work employers and social work educators, were offered a semi-structured individual interview. Participants’ narratives revealed different power relations among those involved in social work students’ assessments and a lack of confidence among service users and carers in making failed assessment recommendations. The paper concludes by arguing the case for social work educators and service user organisations to provide joint training to support service users and carers in their role as assessors of social work students

'Barter', 'deals', 'bribes' and 'threats': Exploring Sibling Interactions

This paper investigates forms of strategic interaction between siblings during childhood. We argue that these interactions, characterised by notions of reciprocity, equivalence and constructions of fairness, are worked out in relation to responsibility, power, knowledge and sibling status. Birth order and age are not experienced as fixed hierarchies as they can be subverted, contested, resisted and negotiated. To explore these issues, in-depth individual and group interviews were conducted with a sample of 90 children between the ages of 5 and 17, drawn from 30 families of mixed socio-economic backgrounds in central Scotland with three siblings within this age range

Integrating critical realist and feminist methodologies: ethical and analytical dilemmas

This paper reflects on research carried out with a group of women receiving intensive family support aimed at addressing the cause of their family’s ‘anti-social behaviour’. The methodological approach to the research was underpinned by the philosophical principles of critical realism. It was also informed by the ethical and political concerns of feminist scholarship. The paper reports on the potential points of tension that arise between feminism and critical realism in empirical research. In particular, attention is centred on the process of trying to marry approaches which stress the central role of participants’ knowledge, particularly those who are ‘labelled’ and whose voices are not readily heard, with the principle that some accounts of ‘reality’ are better than others

Identifying characteristic features of the retinal and choroidal vasculature in choroideremia using optical coherence tomography angiography

PURPOSE: Using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) to investigate the area with flow in the superficial retinal vessel network (SVRN) and choriocapillaris (CC) layer among male subjects with choroideremia (CHM), female carriers, and normal controls to identify vascular changes. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Images of SRVN and CC layer were acquired in 9 affected males, 5 female carriers, and 14 age- and gender-matched controls using the Angiovue software of the RTVue XR Avanti. RESULTS: The mean age was 33 years for affected male CHM patients (median 30 years), 46 years for female carriers (median 53 years), and 39 years for controls (median 38.5). Mean SRVN area±SD in subjects with CHM was 12.93±2.06 mm², in carrier subjects 15.36±0.60 mm², and in controls 15.30±1.35 mm² (P<0.01). The mean CC area±SD with flow was 6.97±5.26 mm² in CHM subjects, 21.65±0.17 mm² in carriers and 21.36±0.76 mm² in controls (P<0.01). SRVN and CC area with flow showed a negative correlation in CHM subjects with the age (r=−0.86; P<0.003 and r=−0.77; P<0.01, respectively). CC area with flow had a positive correlation with SRVN (r=0.83, P<0.001). Overall, visual acuity had a negative correlation with SRVN and CC area with flow (r=−0.67, P<0.001 and r=−0.57, P<0.002, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to highlight changes in the SRVN in CHM subjects. OCTA detected a reduced area with flow in both retinal and choroidal circulations, and may be a useful tool for monitoring natural history and disease progression in forthcoming clinical trials

Impact and the reflexive imperative in criminal justice policy, practice and research

This chapter is a substantive editorial introduction to the book, Reflexivity and Criminal Justice: Intersections of Policy, Practice and Research. It develops and argues for an account of reflexivity in criminology beyond the researcher-researched relationship to the field of research itself. Universities are under increasing pressure to document the value of their work, often defined instrumentally in terms of immediate practical and commercial activities. This has led to increasing emphasis on ‘partnerships’ and knowledge exchange with organisations and actors outside of academia. While such relationships may be empowering and supportive of good research and thriving societies, they also raise critical questions about agenda setting and valuation of social science. These questions become especially acute in a discipline such as criminology, with its attention to crime control, surveillance and state punishment, topics which can be co-opted by particular interests. We address the potential and risks of reflexivity in this setting, concluding that it might offer a stance that assists researchers in exposing the complicated dynamics of the conditions of criminal justice research in contemporary times. The content of the chapters comprising the book are summarised and woven into the discussion throughout this introduction