Recovering the Ontological Foundations of the Grounded Theory Method

Researchers have identified several problems with the Grounded Theory Method, which include fundamental concerns about its ontological foundations and epistemological stance. Many IS researchers consider such issues unproblematic or are unaware of them. This situation is compounded by the fact it is employed selectively as part of positivist, post-positivist or interpretivist research approaches; indeed, some researchers argue that the method is paradigmatically neutral. Accordingly, there have been recent calls in reference disciplines for researchers to address the method’s problematic ontological and epistemological grounding. The objective of this paper is, therefore, to help IS researchers understand better these issues. The paper draws on phenomenological hermeneutics to achieve this aim. This essay therefore makes a contribution to IS research through its constructive analysis of the Grounded Theory Method, by identifying the method’s strengths and weaknesses, and by providing insights into how the latter can be strengthened in interpretivist studies using phenomenological hermeneutics

Design Requirements for a Patient Administered Personal Electronic Health Record

Published version of a chapter in the book: Biomedical engineering, trends in electronics, communications and software. Intech, 2011 Open Acces

Reviewing the Contributing Factors and Benefits of Distributed Collaboration

Distributed collaboration has become increasingly common across domains ranging from software development to information processing, the creative arts, and entertainment. As of early 2020, distributed collaboration has entered the limelight as the COVID-19 pandemic has forced employees across the world to work from home. However, while researchers have applied myriad terms to define these operations, we first address this issue by defining distributed collaboration in a way that represents all its forms. Existing research has identified several factors that contribute to distributed collaborations’ success. Yet, researchers and practitioners typically discuss these factors in modular theoretical terms, which means that they often struggle to identify and synthesize literature that spans multiple domains and perspectives. In this paper, we systematically review the literature to synthesize core findings into one amalgamated model. This model categorizes the contributing factors for distributed collaboration along two axes 1) whether they are social or material and 2) whether they are endemic or relational. We also explicitly discuss the relationships between factors in the model. The model further links these contributing factors to different collaborative outcomes, specifically mutual learning, relationship building, communication, task completion speed, access to skilled personnel, and cost savings

LARGE CROWDS OR LARGE INVESTMENTS? HOW SOCIAL IDENTITY INFLUENCES THE COMMITMENT OF THE CROWD

Equity crowdfunding is increasing in popularity as an alternative to traditional financing for start-ups and growth companies to raise money for their business. This study discusses how equity crowdfunding is different from traditional financing, such as angel investors and venture capitalists. We argue this difference is brought further into focus when large numbers of crowd members invest small amounts, as opposed to fewer individuals making large investments. Building on existing research on Social Identity Theory, we look at why some crowdfunding campaigns are more likely to attract these contrasting types of investment (numerous small investments or fewer large investments). A model is presenting linking different characteristics of campaigns to total investment and average investment. This proposed model will be tested using public data gathered from Crowdcube, a leading UK-based equity crowdfunding platform. This study has significant implications for fundraisers who may wish to target different types of crowds according to the nature of their business, i.e. smaller numbers of passionate investors to provide informed input or larger numbers of casual investors to help create awareness and spread positive word of mouth

Reflecting on professional self-disclosure and supportive relationships with foster carers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professional self-disclosure can be defined as a clinician revealing personal information about themselves to the person they are caring for. This article provides reflections from clinicians working in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and their navigation of professional self-disclosure during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. The reflections focus on the use of self-disclosure in supportive relationships with foster carers. Drawing on the authors’ practice experiences as clinicians in specialist CAMHS settings, the article considers changes in the way that self-disclosure was approached following the shift to remote care delivery during the pandemic. The authors suggest that remote working involves a potentially increased scope for inappropriate use of self-disclosure and outline the implications for mental health nurses working with foster carers

The histone deacetylase inhibitor, romidepsin, as a potential treatment for pulmonary fibrosis

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive disease that usually affects elderly people. It has a poor prognosis and there are limited therapies. Since epigenetic alterations are associated with IPF, histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors offer a novel therapeutic strategy to address the unmet medical need. This study investigated the potential of romidepsin, an FDA-approved HDAC inhibitor, as an anti-fibrotic treatment and evaluated biomarkers of target engagement that may have utility in future clinical trials. The anti-fibrotic effects of romidepsin were evaluated both in vitro and in vivo together with any harmful effect on alveolar type II cells (ATII). Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from IPF or control donors was analyzed for the presence of lysyl oxidase (LOX). In parallel with an increase in histone acetylation, romidepsin potently inhibited fibroblast proliferation, myofibroblast differentiation and LOX expression. ATII cell numbers and their lamellar bodies were unaffected. In vivo, romidepsin inhibited bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in association with suppression of LOX expression. LOX was significantly elevated in BALF of IPF patients compared to controls. These data show the anti-fibrotic effects of romidepsin, supporting its potential use as novel treatment for IPF with LOX as a companion biomarker for evaluation of early on-target effects

Parsimony and Maximum Likelihood phylogenetic analyses of morphology do not generally integrate uncertainty in inferring evolutionary history:A response to Brown et al.

Our recent study evaluated the performance of parsimony and probabilistic models of phylogenetic inference based on categorical data [1]. We found that a Bayesian implementation of a probabilistic Markov model produced more accurate results than either of the competing parsimony approaches (the main method currently employed), and the maximum-likelihood implementation of the same model. This occurs principally because the results of Bayesian analyses are less resolved (less precise) as a measure of topological uncertainty is intrinsically recovered in this MCMC-based approach and can be used to construct a majority-rule consensus tree that reflects this. Of the three main methods, maximum likelihood performed theworst of all as a single exclusively bifurcating tree is estimated in this framework which does not integrate an intrinsic measure of support.N