Category Archives: PhD

Practice change in speech and language therapy: from PhD thesis to Plain English

It’s embarrassing as a speech and language therapist to admit this: I find it difficult to communicate the findings of my PhD in a way that can be easily understood. My thesis is open access, but access doesn’t make it … Continue reading

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Presenting research findings: Tales of the unexpected

A friend getting ready for her viva was given a great bit of advice: there will always be something unexpected which you can only prepare for by accepting it will happen. I was reminded of this following my first experience … Continue reading

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Meta-ethnography: interpretations of interpretations of George Noblit

This post is my take on a methodology seminar at Stirling University and a public lecture in Edinburgh where Professor George Noblit asked ‘How qualitative (or interpretive or critical) is qualitative synthesis, and what can we do about this?’ What … Continue reading

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The metaphor of ‘missing data’ in qualitative research

How does the metaphor of ‘missing data’ work for you in relation to qualitative research? Graham Crow tested this idea out with 12 of us (all PhD students) this week at a National Centre for Research Methods course. We discussed … Continue reading

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Qualitative health research in practice

Having spent many years editing ‘Speech & Language Therapy in Practice’ magazine, it’s not surprising that an event titled ‘Qualitative health research in practice’ had huge appeal. In placing the focus on exploring the many processes of doing qualitative research, … Continue reading

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Getting past assumptions about putting ideas into practice

What matters to us opens us to new ideas. As clinicians or researchers, we don’t make sense of an idea as a free-floating ‘thing’ but through how it relates to our practice. If we think it might help us make … Continue reading

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What does it take to make a practice change, #WeSpeechies?

Making a change in your practice – what does it take? This is the theme for Twitter’s @WeSpeechies from 20th-26th April 2014, when I will be taking a turn to curate. An hour-long #WeSpeechies tweetchat on Tuesday 22nd at 8pm (BST) includes 5 questions … Continue reading

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Life is academic after speechmag

In 2011 it was time to bring Speech & Language Therapy in Practice to a close, and I was faced with the problem of what to do next. At a point where some rational decision making was probably called for, I … Continue reading

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