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The Politics of Health Services Research: Health Professionals as Hired Hands in a Commissioned Research Project in England

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  • Simon Dyson
  • Sue Dyson

Abstract

Previous health services research has failed to account for the role played by clinical staff in the collection of data. In this paper we use the work of Roth on hired hand research to examine the politics of evidence production within health services research. Sociologies of work predict lack of engagement in the research tasks by subordinated groups of workers. We examine the role of midwives in researching ante-natal screening for sickle cell and thalassaemia in England, and construct three ideal types: repairers , refractors , and resisters to account for the variable engagement of health staff with research. We find some features of the hired hand phenomenon predicted by Roth to be in evidence, and suggest that the context of our project is similar to much health services research. We conclude that without concerted attempts (1) to change the social relations of research production; (2) to mitigate hired hand effects; (3) to assess the impact of the hired hand effect on the validity and reliability of findings, and (4) to report on these limitations, that health services research involving large teams of subordinated clinical staff as data collectors will be prone to produce evidence that is of limited trustworthiness.

Suggested Citation

  • Simon Dyson & Sue Dyson, 2014. "The Politics of Health Services Research: Health Professionals as Hired Hands in a Commissioned Research Project in England," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 19(3), pages 118-128, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:19:y:2014:i:3:p:118-128
    DOI: 10.5153/sro.3457
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Rapley, Tim & May, Carl & Heaven, Ben & Murtagh, Madeline & Graham, Ruth & Kaner, Eileen F.S. & Thomson, Richard, 2006. "Doctor-patient interaction in a randomised controlled trial of decision-support tools," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(9), pages 2267-2278, May.
    2. Jackie Goode, 2006. "Research Identities: Reflections of a Contract Researcher," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 11(2), pages 40-49, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Vivienne Hanrahan & Katie Gillies & Linda Biesty, 2020. "Recruiters' perspectives of recruiting women during pregnancy and childbirth to clinical trials: A qualitative evidence synthesis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-25, June.

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