Robert Dingwall

An introduction to the social history of nursing

1.Nurses and Servants 2.The Revolution in Nursing 3.The New Model Nurse 4.Making the Myths 5.The Search for Unity 6.The Nationalization of Nursing 7.Mental Disorder and Mental Handicap 8.Midwifery 9.District Nursing and Health Visiting 10.Professional Autonomy and Economic Restraints

The protection of children: state intervention and family life

This book is based on the most extensive investigation of child abuse and neglect ever carried out in Great Britain. The author followed the course of numerous cases from the first detection of ill-treatment to the resolution (or otherwise) of the problem.

Qualitative Methods and Health Policy Research

This volume explains what qualitative research can do, when it is sensible to use or commission it, and (most crucially and controversially) how to tell good work from bad. The text is amply illustrated with examples of qualitative health care research studies. Further, the authors share a common ground with quantitative colleagues in rejecting the idea that qualitative research is a kind of creative art form rather than a tool of policy science. Thus their book presents a challenge to fashionable models of qualitative evaluation research, in arguing that qualitative researchers are not poets in residence, but vital partners in the great practical tasks of promoting health and caring for the sick.

The ethical case against ethical regulation in humanities and social science research

The system of pre-emptive ethical regulation developed in the biomedical sciences has become a major threat to research in the humanities and the social sciences (HSS). Although there is growing criticism of its effects, most commentators have tended to accept the principle of regulation. This paper argues that we should not make this concession and that ethical regulation is fundamentally wrong because the damage that it inflicts on a democratic society far exceeds any harm that HSS research is capable of causing to individuals.

An open letter to The BMJ editors on qualitative research

Seventy six senior academics from 11 countries invite The BMJ ’s editors to reconsider their policy of rejecting qualitative research on the grounds of low priority. They challenge the journal to develop a proactive, scholarly, and pluralist approach to research that aligns with its stated mission

Catching Goldfish: Quality in Qualitative Research:

This paper reviews the contribution of qualitative methods to health services research (HSR) and discusses some of the issues involved in recognizing quality in such work. The place of qualitative work is first defined by reference to Archie Cochranes agenda for HSR and the limitations of the recent focus on randomized trials as the standard method. Health care practice involves large elements of improvisation which cannot be captured by evidence-based approaches. Qualitative methods offer ways of understanding this improvisation and of identifying more efficient and effective practices, as well as considering the traditional topics of equity and humanity. The methodological procedures of qualitative work reflect a long-established inductive tradition in scientific practice. The logic of grounded theory provides a contemporary specification. In its application, it is quite different from the methodological anarchy of postmodernism. The use of qualitative research and the theoretically stated generalizations which arise from it inform reflective work by health service managers, planners and clinicians.

The Book of Life: How the Completion of the Human Genome Project was Revealed to the Public:

The production of a ‘working draft’ of the human genome was announced on 26 June 2000 at a linked US/UK press conference involving President Clinton and Prime Minister Blair. This article analyses the politicians’ speeches, the accompanying press releases, with contributions from leading scientists associated with the project and British national newspaper coverage of this event. We ask why research on the human genome has not led to widespread negative reactions comparable to those provoked by cloning and GM food. Part of the answer lies in the metaphors, images, literary and cultural references used in the announcement of this development, especially by scientists and politicians attempting to steer the discourse towards public euphoria. Much of this rhetoric draws on the projected benefits for medicine and health care, particularly ‘dread diseases’ like cancer. Nevertheless some of the print media still focused on the ‘negative’ tropes of ‘designer people’ and on ‘genetic determinism’.

“Risk Society”: The Cult of Theory and the Millennium?

The relation between theory and empirical data in sociology and social policy is explored through a critique of Ulrich Becks influential book, Risk Society. Consideration is given to the extent to which a book that purports to describe contemporary societies in general is actually rooted in the unique circumstances of postwar Germany. The various arguments of Risk Society are reviewed and tested against relevant empirical reports from England. Many of the historical and contemporary generalizations made by Beck are shown to be questionable. The conclusion reflects on the popularity of the genre in which Beck is working and questions the consistent glumness of its attitude to contemporary societies—whether those of the 1890s or the 1990s. The new millennium might be a time for a new spirit and the rejection of the nostalgia and conservatism of humanities-oriented scholarship.

“A respectable profession”? Sociological and economic perspectives on the regulation of professional services

There is an unresolved problem at the heart of both the economic and the sociological study of the professions. Are these occupations simple monopolies whose anticompetitive effects distort the social and economic organization of a society or are they institutions which have developed for public interest reasons and should be preserved? This paper reviews the treatment of the professions in contemporary social science. It begins by discussing the current orthodoxy, which emphasizes their anticompetitive effects, and some of its recent critics. It is argued that both of these neglect the critical role of professionalization in maintaining trust or confidence in the workings of the market under the conditions of a complex modern society. If this is accepted, then new directions are implied in both academic study and policy debate.

Research directions in genetic counselling: a review of the literature

There is a growing body of literature considering genetic counselling services in a variety of clinical settings. This literature encompasses both predictive and diagnostic testing, from the viewpoints of service providers and recipients. It also embraces a wide range of conceptions of the nature and goals of genetic counselling. However, research in this area has been criticised for a focus on outcome rather than process, and it has been suggested that this focus limits its practical use. The purpose of this review is twofold: (1) to describe the varying concepts of counselling which appear to be utilised in published work and (2) to discuss the possible applications of this work to practice.