Paul K. Miller

Nurture, nature and some very dubious social skills: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of talent identification practices in elite English youth soccer

This paper reports qualitative findings regarding the concepts and practices utilised in talent identification (TI) among professional coaches working in English youth soccer. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, detailed interviews with seven such coaches are explored, with a view to elucidating the links between understanding, practice, experience and professional context. Findings reveal three superordinate themes, relating to (1) a primarily ‘nurtured’ and trainable understanding of the broad concept of talent itself, (2) an ostensibly contradictory model of semi-static player psychology, and (3) a highly selective mechanism for separating evidence for ‘mental strength’ and ‘social skills’. It is contended that these findings underscore a case for more thorough interrogation of the real worlds inhabited by coaches, such that ideas about ‘good practice’ in TI might be more effectively reconciled with grounded knowledge of the practical everyday necessities of being a coach.

Rethinking the factuality of ‘contextual’ factors in an ethnomethodological mode: towards a reflexive understanding of action-context dynamism in the theorization of coaching

In this paper, an argument is made for the revisitation of Harold Garfinkels classic body of ethnomethodological research in order to further develop and refine models of the action-context relationship in coaching science. It is observed that, like some contemporary phenomenological and post-structural approaches to coaching, an ethnomethodological perspective stands in opposition to dominant understandings of contexts as semi-static causal ‘variables’ in coaching activity. It is further observed, however, that unlike such approaches – which are often focused upon the capture of authentic individual experience – ethnomethodology operates in the intersubjective domain, granting analytic primacy to the coordinative accomplishment of meaningful action in naturally-occurring situations. Focusing particularly on Garfinkels conceptualization of action and context as transformable and, above all, reflexively-configured, it is centrally argued that greater engagement with the ethnomethodological corpus of research has much to offer coaching scholarship both theoretically and methodologically.

Informing radiography curriculum development: The views of UK radiology service managers concerning the ‘fitness for purpose’ of recent diagnostic radiography graduates

INTRODUCTION Recent years have seen significant changes in the way medical imaging services are delivered, rapid changes in technology and big increases in the number and ranges of examinations undertaken. Given these changes the study aimed to critically evaluate the fitness for purpose of newly qualified diagnostic radiography. METHOD The study employed a grounded theory approach to analyse the interviews of 20 radiology managers from a range of medical imaging providers across the UK. RESULTS Four key themes emerged from the analysis. These were: curriculum content and structure review; diversification in the role of the radiographer; professionalism and coping and the reformation of career structures. CONCLUSION The results indicate the role of the radiographer is now in a state of flux and challenge radiology managers and educators to design curricula and career structures which are better matched the role of the radiographer in the very rapidly changing technological, organisational and social contexts of modern society.

Heuristic reasoning and the observer's view: the influence of example-availability on ad-hoc frequency judgments in sport.

Drawing upon evidence from broader social psychology, and an illustrative study of frequency-estimation during a simple, sport-specific observe-and-recall task, this paper makes the case for the more thorough investigation of the availability heuristic (Tversky & Kahneman, 1973) on practical state-of-play reasoning in largely observational sporting activities. It is argued that this evidence particularly substantiates a need for a more robust body of research in two primary domains: (a) the gatekeeping tasks pertinent (and usually preliminary) to an individuals sporting performance such as talent scouting, team selection, and substitution decisions, and (b) the business of officiating in high-tempo environments.

Dementia and clinical interaction in frontline radiography: Mapping the practical experiences of junior clinicians in the UK:

This paper reports findings from a study of the practical experiences of junior diagnostic radiographers in the UK when managing patients with dementia. Extended semi-structured interviews with six participants (mean experience in diagnostic radiography = 3.5 years) were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings highlight that participants’ recurrently cited lack of confidence around their knowledge of dementia, and regular treatment of the condition as a ‘generic’ thing in practice, had sometimes damaged clinical interaction, particularly when the participant was feeling institutional time pressures. Education for new professionals was seen as lacking in both quantity and context-relevance, with implications for professional confidence and ethical practice. Carers and family members were viewed by participants as potentially positive and negative forces within an examination context, and technological advances in radiography were taken to be clinically advantageous but also actively detrimental to the effective interpersonal care of their patients.

Arsène didn’t see it: coaching, research and the promise of a discursive psychology

For twenty five years the discursive psychological perspective has been at the vanguard of innovative research in social psychology, producing highdetail systematic analyses of dynamic, constructive language use in a wide range of practical settings. To date, it has found applications in the study of medical communication, racism, political discourse, emotion and accounts of success and failure in sport, to highlight but a few. Its lack of headway in the specific study of coaching is perhaps, therefore, somewhat surprising given the transparently task-focused character of many naturally-occurring verbal activities in the domain. This article draws on salient literature and two brief case studies in illustrating some of the ways that the perspective can inform an approach to coaching interaction that does not draw on ontologically-problematic cognitivist assumptions regarding the relationship between thought and action. A foundational argument is then made for greater engagement with discursive psychology within the broader realm of coaching science.

Mountains, Cones, and Dilemmas of Context The Case of “Ordinary Language” in Philosophy and Social Scientific Method

The order of influence from thesis to hypothesis, and from philosophy to the social sciences, has historically governed the way in which the abstraction and significance of language as an empirical object is determined. In this article, an argument is made for the development of a more reflexive intellectual relationship between ordinary language philosophy (OLP) and the social sciences that it helped inspire. It is demonstrated that, and how, the social scientific traditions of ethnomethodology and conversation analysis (CA) press OLP to re-consider the variety of problematic abstractions it has previously made for the sake of philosophical clarity, thereby self-reinvigorating.

Charting the practical dimensions of understaffing from a managerial perspective: The everyday shape of the UK’s sonographer shortage:

Introduction Across the last two decades, ultrasound services in many healthcare sectors have become increasingly pressurised as a consequence of upsurging demand and difficulties in recruiting viable clinicians. Indeed by 2013, the UK government’s Migration Advisory Committee had listed sonography as an official ‘shortage specialty’. Comparatively little research has to date, however, explored the impacts of this situation upon the departments themselves, and the individuals working therein. The core purpose of this study is, thus, to lend qualitative depth to current understandings of the frontline situation in the UK’s ultrasound units, many of which are understaffed, from the perspective of their managers. Methods Using a thematic analysis informed by a Straussian model of Grounded Theory, N = 20 extended accounts provided by ultrasound department leads in public (n = 18) and private (n = 2) units were explored. Results Four global themes emerged from the analysis of which the first two (the broadly sociological matters) are described in this paper. Theme 1 addresses how a lack of staff in the broader ultrasound economy has created a troublesome migratory system in contemporary UK ultrasound. Theme 2 addresses how this economy works chiefly to the advantage of the most junior and the most senior clinicians, often leaving mid-career professionals in the borderline impossible situation of having to concurrently occupy both junior and senior roles. Conclusions The findings ideally open up debate on some key practical contingencies of the UK’s sonographer shortage, and reflect upon literature regarding the nuanced aspects of a shifting healthcare workplace constitution.

How to do things without words

The impact of J.L. Austin’s Speech-Act Theory has resonated throughout the social sciences over the last three decades, not least in its catalysis of the so-called linguistic turn and the rise of cultural studies. Since this original shockwave, a great deal of innovation and progress in the study of ordinary language itself has emanated from these social sciences, not least among which is Harvey Sacks’ Conversation Analytic approach (see Sacks, 1972; 1984; 1992a; 1992b). Pioneered by Sacks, and strongly influenced by the methods of ethnomethodologist Harold Garfinkel (1967; 1996; 2007), Conversation Analysis (henceforth CA) has, over the last four decades, built on many of the foundational principles of Austin’s work in developing a working corpus of research addressing how ordinary conversation works in concrete, empirical situations. The flow of intellectual influence with respect to the understanding of how “ordinary language” works has, however, been largely monodirectional; ideas have moved steadily from philosophy into the realms of the social sciences, with very little converse drift. In this chapter it is argued that, despite this historically-ingrained disciplinary tide, there is much that CA can “give back” to Austin scholars – particularly in terms of the how dialogue might be pragmatically conceptualised. As a thematic lynchpin, focus falls chiefly upon Sacks’ criticisms of the persistent employment of invented and “ideal” cases of language-use endemic to the Speech-Act tradition. Using such idealisations is, from Sacks’ perspective, inimical to any claim regarding the provision of insight into the “ordinary” language that actually manifests in real social interactions. Furthermore, the implications of this important charge are elucidated herein with reference to one particular substantive component of conversational practice in which the discrepancies between “real” and “ideal” examples become especially salient: silence.

Race, Sport and Politics: The Sporting Black Diaspora

The relationship between ‘race’ and sport is, and has been for some time, the subject of a quite staggering volume of academic output, chiefly in the spheres of sport-specific sociology and cultural studies. It is perhaps surprising, thus, that prior to the publication of Ben Carrington’s splendid volume, there had been no book-length study focused entirely upon the task of clearly elucidating the reflexive relationships between sport, social theory, colonial legacy, culture and racial identity. Hitherto, the academic community has instead been treated to a range of (often excellent) papers focusing in great detail on narrow aspects of a wide argument. Alternately, and particularly from an undergraduate perspective, the bulk of domain-relevant information has been provided by the obligatory broad, and necessarily general, ‘race and sport’ chapter in overview sport sociology books. As such, before one even opens the front cover of Race, Sport and Politics, the author should be applauded for the very project undertaken here. Carrington, centrally, works to provide a sustained and historically-grounded look into a broad phenomenon that has previously only really been captured in high-definition partial snapshots, or in sweeping gazes from afar.