In Testing Times: Conducting an Ethnographic Study of UK Animal Rights Protesters

This article reflects upon the experience of conducting research into a UK-based, though internationally-renowned, animal rights group. The article firstly rationalizes the ethnographic research methodology used to approach Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC). Secondly, it describes the effect of unforeseen factors (from adverse media attention to ongoing criminal investigations) on the Author's ability to forge research relationships with informants within the movement, and how these challenges were overcome. Given the interdisciplinary focus of the project, this manuscript will be of interest to scholars wishing to investigate 'hard-to-reach' social groups, and particularly those who have written on reflexivity and power in research relationships.Animal Rights and Liberation, Protests, Ethnography, Field Relations, Overt Research

Simulation of the spatio-temporal extent of groundwater flooding using statistical methods of hydrograph classification and lumped parameter models

This article presents the development of a relatively low cost and rapidly applicable methodology to simulate the spatio-temporal occurrence of groundwater flooding in chalk catchments. In winter 2000/2001 extreme rainfall resulted in anomalously high groundwater levels and groundwater flooding in many chalk catchments of northern Europe and the southern United Kingdom. Groundwater flooding was extensive and prolonged, occurring in areas where it had not been recently observed and, in places, lasting for 6 months. In many of these catchments, the prediction of groundwater flooding is hindered by the lack of an appropriate tool, such as a distributed groundwater model, or the inability of models to simulate extremes adequately. A set of groundwater hydrographs is simulated using a simple lumped parameter groundwater model. The number of models required is minimized through the classification and grouping of groundwater level time-series using principal component analysis and cluster analysis. One representative hydrograph is modelled then transposed to other observed hydrographs in the same group by the process of quantile mapping. Time-variant groundwater level surfaces, generated using the discrete set of modelled hydrographs and river elevation data, are overlain on a digital terrain model to predict the spatial extent of groundwater flooding. The methodology is applied to the Pang and Lambourn catchments in southern England for which monthly groundwater level time-series exist for 52 observation boreholes covering the period 1975–2004. The results are validated against observed groundwater flood extent data obtained from aerial surveys and field mapping. The method is shown to simulate the spatial and temporal occurrence of flooding during the 2000/2001 flood event accurately

Embedded or Modular? Preliminary Findings From a Study of Pre-Registration Nursing EBP Teaching Delivery Methods.

Aim: This study explores the impact of teaching delivery method (embedded vs. modular) on undergraduate pre-registration nursing students’ self-reported Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) implementation, attitudes, knowledge and skills. Background: For the past 20 years EBP has been increasingly emphasised as an effective approach and goal in healthcare. Although research has identified a number of barriers to its adoption and implementation, little research has focused on nurses’ pre-registration training; particularly on the impact of teaching delivery-method EBP throughout the learning process. Method: The study represents an on-going educational audit. Two cohorts of undergraduate nursing students were recruited for a longitudinal, cross-sectional survey study: cohort one (N=57, response rate= 90.1%) were being taught EBP modularly, but cohort two (N=88, response rate= 63.8%) had EBP embedded across their modules. Data was collected using the Evidence-Based Practice Questionnaire (EBPQ; Upton & Upton, 2006), administered at six-monthly intervals across the duration of students’ courses. Results: Preliminary analysis of students’ EBP 6-months into their courses identified no statistically significant differences between the cohorts on EBP Practice (U=2,138.00, Z=-0.13, p=.894). However, statistically significant differences between the two cohorts were identified on EBP attitudes (U=1, 852.00, Z=-2.43, p=.015; embedded group Md= 5.67, modular group Md=6.33) and Knowledge/skills (U=2,802.00, Z=3.68, p<.001; embedded group Md= 4.89, modular group Md=4.29). Conclusions: Although the project is still in its infancy, preliminary findings raise important questions about the relationship between EBP attitudes, practice and skill. The embedded cohort’s lower attitude scores may reflect social-desirability effects: modules dedicated to EBP may instil greater importance of displaying positive EBP attitudes. Embedding EBP may provide an effective means of developing students’ practice, knowledge and skills, without requiring dedicated modules (thereby reducing resource demands)

Bioinformatics: A challenge for statisticians

Bioinformatics is a subject that requires the skills of biologists, computer scientists, mathematicians and staisticians. This paper introduces the reader to one small aspect of the subject: the study of microarrays. It describes some of the complexities of the enormous amounts of data that are available and shows how simple statistical techniques can be used to highlight deficiencies in that data