Chris Elsey | De Montfort University (original) (raw)

Papers by Chris Elsey

Education as practiced is predicated upon order, structure and organisation. This educational ord... more Education as practiced is predicated upon order, structure and organisation. This educational order can be 'found' in the classroom within lessons, activities, and tasks, and is the collaborative achievement of those present within them (e.g. teachers, students and, in this case, learning support assistants). The pivotal issue is how the various sense-making practices found in the setting (e.g. talk, gesture, gaze, embodied action) enable those present to 'find their place' within the present educational lesson. These considerations are made perspicuous in the research reported here as the various students present have attributed learning difficulties and disabilities and are attending a Further Education (FE) College to take part in a course purposefully designed to teach them practical everyday living skills. The specific learning difficulties attributed ranged in type and degree and the relevance of these designations will be documented when necessary. For present...

Frontiers in Communication, 2022

By comparing two distinct governmental organizations (the US military and NASA) this paper unpack... more By comparing two distinct governmental organizations (the US military and NASA) this paper unpacks two main issues. On the one hand, the paper examines the transcripts that are produced as part of work activities in these worksites and what the transcripts reveal about the organizations themselves. Additionally, the paper analyses what the transcripts disclose about the practices involved in their creation and use for practical purposes in these organizations. These organizations have been chosen as transcription forms a routine part of how they operate as worksites. Further, the everyday working environments in both organizations involve complex technological systems, as well as multi-party interactions in which speakers are frequently spatially and visually separated. In order to explicate these practices, the article draws on the transcription methods employed in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis research as a comparative resource. In these approaches audio-video data is...

In this article we present an ethnomethodological study of a controversial case of ‘friendly fire... more In this article we present an ethnomethodological study of a controversial case of ‘friendly fire’ from the Iraq War in which leaked video footage, war on video, acquired particular significance. We examine testimony given during a United States Air Force (USAF) investigation of the incident alongside transcribed excerpts from the video to make visible the methods employed by the investigators to assess the propriety of the actions of the pilots involved. With a focus on the way in which the USAF investigators pursued their own analysis of language-in-use in their discussions with the pilots about what had been captured on the video, we turn attention to the background expectancies that analytical work was grounded in. These ‘vernacular’ forms of video analysis and the expectancies which inform them constitute, we suggest, an inquiry into military culture from within that culture. As such, attending to them provides insights into that culture.

In this chapter we discuss what ethnomethodology and conversation analysis can contribute to stud... more In this chapter we discuss what ethnomethodology and conversation analysis can contribute to studies of the military, specifically understandings of ‘action-in-interaction’ in military settings. The chapter is methodologically focused and explores how work in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis provides an alternative way of approaching the problems posed in studying the different forms of practice that constitute ‘soldierly work’. Rather than approach these issues in the abstract, and in line with the central thrust of ethnomethodological (e.g. Garfinkel 1967, 2002; Heritage 1984; Lynch 2007) and conversation analytic studies (e.g. Heritage 1995; Pomerantz & Fehr 1997; Sacks 1995; Schegloff 2007), we shall outline this approach through a discussion of the methods employed, and difficulties encountered, in the course of research we conducted into a specific case. This was a fatal ‘blue-on-blue’ or ‘friendly fire’ attack on British infantry by American aircraft during the Seco...

Communication & Sport, 2020

The disclosure of absences from professional sporting activities to the media is a routine and ge... more The disclosure of absences from professional sporting activities to the media is a routine and generally unproblematic part of a sporting career. However, when the reason for the absence relates to mental health concerns, players can encounter difficulties in trying to define, describe and conceptualise their own issues while attempting to maintain privacy as they undergo assessment and treatment. Drawing on ethnomethodology and conversation analysis principles and methods, this paper explores first/initial public mental health disclosure narratives produced by players and sporting organizations across several professional sports via media interviews, press statements, and social media posts. The analysis focuses on (in)voluntary accounts produced by teams or players themselves during their careers and examines the different communication strategies they employ to categorise and explain their predicament. The analysis reveals how some players provide partial or proxy public disclosu...

Psychology of Violence, 2018

Objective: The objective of this article is to outline an ethnomethodological approach to the stu... more Objective: The objective of this article is to outline an ethnomethodological approach to the study of professionalized violence or violence as work. It focuses primarily on violence in the context of military combat operations and the “situational” analyses and assessments military personnel themselves undertake when engaging in violent action. Method: We use a video from one incident (WikiLeaks’ Collateral Murder release) as a demonstration case to set out the methodological bases of ethnomethodological studies of combat violence. As part of this study, we show how transcripts can be used to document the interactions in which situational analyses feature as part of coordinating and executing linked attacks. Results: Based on the video and our transcripts, we explicate how the military personnel involved collaboratively identified, assessed, and engaged a group of combatants. We show that the incident consisted of 2 attacks or engagements, a first and a follow-up, treated as connected rather than distinct by those involved on situational grounds. Conclusion: Moving beyond controversy, causal explanations, and remedies, the article describes how structures of practical military action can be investigated situationally from an ethnomethodological perspective using video data. By treating collaborative military methods and practices as a focus for inquiry, this article contributes to our understanding of violence as work more broadly.

Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 2016

Introduction Conversation Analysis (CA) can help with the differential diagnosis of seizure disor... more Introduction Conversation Analysis (CA) can help with the differential diagnosis of seizure disorders. We investigated if CA could be used in the memory clinic to distinguish neurodegenerative (NDD) from functional memory disorders (FMD). Methods We recruited consecutive, patients newly referred to the Neurology-led memory Clinic. Consultations were video & audio recorded. All participants underwent detailed Neuropsychology testing and MRI. Results 111 patients of 178 approached were recruited (20 ND, 24 FMD, 87 other). We identified profiles of 14 interactional features that can distinguish NDD from FMD consultations based on encounters with 15 patients with NDD and 15 with FMD. Features of NDD included an inability to answer compound questions fully, inability to give detailed examples of memory failures, shorter length of turn and reduced complexity of replies. Prospective analysis of an additional 10 encounters proved that Conversation Analysts could use these features to predict the diagnoses of FMD and ND with high sensitivity and specificity. Conclusions Simple differences in the communication behaviour of patients can help to distinguish between ND and FMD, suggesting that a targeted observation of interactional features could improve screening for ND in primary or secondary or care settings.

The Palgrave Handbook of Criminology and War, 2016

Through the ongoing work of leak sites, public inquiries, criminal investigations, journalists, w... more Through the ongoing work of leak sites, public inquiries, criminal investigations, journalists, whistleblowers, researchers and others, the public has gained access to a growing number of videos of live military operations in recent years. Capturing such things as friendly fire attacks, civilian deaths and extrajudicial or illegal killings, these videos have attracted public and academic attention due to their ‘revelatory’ qualities. Through an analysis of two particular instances, WikiLeaks’ Collateral Murder and footage of a targeted assassination by the Israeli Defence Force, we argue it is important to analyse exactly how such deaths are digitally re-presented if we are to make use of videos as data in the study of episodes of military violence and the evidential politics they give rise to.

Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2016

CLINIC TO DISTINGUISH DEMENTIA FROM FUNCTIONAL MEMORY DISORDER Daniel J. Blackburn, Chris Elsey, ... more CLINIC TO DISTINGUISH DEMENTIA FROM FUNCTIONAL MEMORY DISORDER Daniel J. Blackburn, Chris Elsey, Sarah Wakefield, Kirsty Harkness, Annalena Venneri, Paul Drew, Markus Reuber, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom; University of Loughborough, Loughborough, United Kingdom; 3 Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, Sheffield, United Kingdom; IRCCS San Camillo Hospital Foundation, Venice, Italy. Contact e-mail: d. blackburn@sheffield.ac.uk

Patient education and counseling, Jan 11, 2015

This study explores whether the profile of patients' interactional behaviour in memory clinic... more This study explores whether the profile of patients' interactional behaviour in memory clinic conversations with a doctor can contribute to the clinical differentiation between functional memory disorders (FMD) and memory problems related to neurodegenerative diseases. Conversation Analysis of video recordings of neurologists' interactions with patients attending a specialist memory clinic. "Gold standard" diagnoses were made independently of CA findings by a multi-disciplinary team based on clinical assessment, neuropsychological testing and brain imaging. Two discrete conversational profiles for patients with memory complaints emerged, including (i) who attends the clinic (i.e., whether or not patients are accompanied), and (ii) patients' responses to neurologists' questions about memory problems, such as difficulties with compound questions and providing specific and elaborated examples and frequent "I don't…

Health and Social Care Education, 2013

Abstract The present article reports upon the analytic progress of a video ethnographic study of ... more Abstract The present article reports upon the analytic progress of a video ethnographic study of bedside teaching encounters (BTEs). Of particular interest is the exploration of how doctor-patient interactions are fundamentally transformed by the presence of medical students. Analysis of a large corpus of video recordings has explored how the concepts of patient-centredness and trust are displayed and learned during real-time BTEs through interaction. A short exemplar from the video corpus is provided to illustrate how these concepts can be ‘found’ in actual medical encounters; for example, by providing spaces for patient questions during consultations.

Trust and Discourse, 2014

The aim of this chapter is to explore a broad and liberal conception of trust within doctor-patie... more The aim of this chapter is to explore a broad and liberal conception of trust within doctor-patient-student triadic bedside teaching encounters (BTEs) during which medical students learn with, from and about patients. Specifically building on past work examining audio-recordings of BTEs, we see trust as being achieved in and through interaction. Using a symbolic interactionist framework to examine interaction (including pronoun use and laughter), Monrouxe and her colleagues analysed the roles and identities that doctors, patients and students construct within these encounters: thus patients’ roles ranged from those of passive props or objects (primarily to be used by doctors and medical students for teaching and learning purposes) to being actively involved in consultations (as directors of physical examinations) (Monrouxe et al., 2009, Rees and Monrouxe, 2008, 2010). These different social roles result in patient inclusion or exclusion from the interaction in which their health was under discussion. Within this chapter we use video-recorded BTEs to explore how trust between doctor and patient is reconstituted, adjusted and reconfigured by the presence of medical students during medical encounters.

Medical Education, 2014

Feedback associated with teaching activities is often synonymous with reflection on action, which... more Feedback associated with teaching activities is often synonymous with reflection on action, which comprises the evaluative assessment of performance out of its original context. Feedback in action (as correction during clinical encounters) is an underexplored, complementary resource facilitating students' understanding and learning. The purpose of this study was to explore the interactional patterns and correction modalities utilised in feedback sequences between doctors and students within general practice-based bedside teaching encounters (BTEs). A qualitative video ethnographic approach was used. Participants were recorded in their natural settings to allow interactional practices to be contextually explored. We examined 12 BTEs recorded across four general practices and involving 12 patients, four general practitioners and four medical students (209 minutes and 20 seconds of data) taken from a larger corpus. Data analysis was facilitated by Transana video analysis software and informed by previous conversation analysis research in ordinary conversation, classrooms and health care settings. A range of correction strategies across a spectrum of underlying explicitness were identified. Correction strategies classified at extreme poles of this scale (high or low explicitness) were believed to be less interactionally effective. For example, those using abrupt closing of topics (high explicitness) or interactional ambiguity (low explicitness) were thought to be less effective than embedded correction strategies that enabled the student to reach the correct answer with support. We believe that educators who are explicitly taught linguistic strategies for how to manage feedback in BTEs might manage learning more effectively. For example, clinicians might maximise learning moments during BTEs by avoiding abrupt or ambiguous feedback practices. Embedded correction strategies can enhance student participation by guiding students towards the correct answer. Clinician corrections can sensitively manage student face-saving by minimising the exposure of student error to patients. Furthermore, we believe that the effective practices highlighted by our analysis might facilitate successful transformation of feedback in action into feedback for action.

Advances in Health Sciences Education, 2016

Aging & mental health, Jan 24, 2015

In the UK dementia is under-diagnosed, there is limited access to specialist memory clinics, and ... more In the UK dementia is under-diagnosed, there is limited access to specialist memory clinics, and many of the patients referred to such clinics are ultimately found to have functional (non-progressive) memory disorders (FMD), rather than a neurodegenerative disorder. Government initiatives on 'timely diagnosis' aim to improve the rate and quality of diagnosis for those with dementia. This study seeks to improve the screening and diagnostic process by analysing communication between clinicians and patients during initial specialist clinic visits. Establishing differential conversational profiles could help the timely differential diagnosis of memory complaints. This study is based on video- and audio recordings of 25 initial consultations between neurologists and patients referred to a UK memory clinic. Conversation analysis was used to explore recurrent communicative practices associated with each diagnostic group. Two discrete conversational profiles began to emerge, to help...

By comparing two distinct governmental organizations (the US military and NASA) this paper unpack... more By comparing two distinct governmental organizations (the US military and NASA) this paper unpacks two main issues. On the one hand, the paper examines the transcripts that are produced as part of work activities in these worksites and what the transcripts reveal about the organizations themselves. Additionally, the paper analyses what the transcripts disclose about the practices involved in their creation and use for practical purposes in these organizations. These organizations have been chosen as transcription forms a routine part of how they operate as worksites. Further, the everyday working environments in both organizations involve complex technological systems, as well as multi-party interactions in which speakers are frequently spatially and visually separated. In order to explicate these practices, the article draws on the transcription methods employed in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis as a comparative resource. In these approaches audio-video data is transcribed in a fine-grained manner that captures temporal aspects of talk, as well as how speech is delivered. Using these approaches to transcription as an analytical device enables us to investigate when and why transcripts are produced by the US military and NASA in the specific ways that they are, as well as what exactly is being re-presented in the transcripts and thus what was treated as worth transcribing in the interactions they are intended to serve as documents of. By analysing these transcription practices it becomes clear that these organizations create huge amounts of audio-video “data” about their routine activities. One major difference between them is that the US military selectively transcribe this data (usually for the purposes of investigating incidents in which civilians might have been injured), whereas NASA’s “transcription machinery” aims to capture as much of their mission-related interactions as is organizationally possible (i.e., within the physical limits and capacities of their radio communications systems). As such the paper adds to our understanding of transcription practices and how this is related to the internal working, accounting and transparency practices within different kinds of organization. The article also examines how the original transcripts have been used by researchers (and others) outside of the organizations themselves for alternative purposes.

Ethnographic Studies, 2018

In this article we present an ethnomethodological study of a controversial case of 'friendly ... more In this article we present an ethnomethodological study of a controversial case of 'friendly fire' from the Iraq War in which leaked video footage, war on video, acquired particular significance. We examine testimony given during a United States Air Force (USAF) investigation of the incident alongside transcribed excerpts from the video to make visible the methods employed by the investigators to assess the propriety of the actions of the pilots involved. With a focus on the way in which the USAF investigators pursued their own analysis of language-in-use in their discussions with the pilots about what had been captured on the video, we turn attention to the background expectancies that analytical work was grounded in. These 'vernacular' forms of video analysis and the expectancies which inform them constitute, we suggest, an inquiry into military culture from within that culture. As such, attending to them provides insights into that culture.

Alzheimer disease and associated disorders, Jan 9, 2018

Specialist services for dementia are seeing an increasing number of patients. We investigated whe... more Specialist services for dementia are seeing an increasing number of patients. We investigated whether interactional and linguistic features in the communication behavior of patients with memory problems could help distinguish between those with problems secondary to neurological disorders (ND) and those with functional memory disorder (FMD). In part 1 of this study, a diagnostic scoring aid (DSA) was developed encouraging linguists to provide quantitative ratings for 14 interactional features. An optimal cut-off differentiating ND and FMD was established by applying the DSA to 30 initial patient-doctor memory clinic encounters. In part 2, the DSA was tested prospectively in 10 additional cases analyzed independently by 2 conversation analysts blinded to medical information. In part 1, the median score of the DSA was +5 in ND and -5 in FMD (P<0.001). The optimal numeric DSA cut-off (+1) identified patients with ND with a sensitivity of 86.7% and a specificity of 100%. In part 2, D...

Psychology of Violence, 2018

Objective: The objective of this article is to outline an ethnomethodological approach to the stu... more Objective: The objective of this article is to outline an ethnomethodological approach to the study of professionalized violence or violence as work. It focuses primarily on violence in the context of military combat operations and the “situational” analyses and assessments military personnel themselves undertake when engaging in violent action. Method: We use a video from one incident (WikiLeaks’ Collateral Murder release) as a demonstration case to set out the methodological bases of ethnomethodological studies of combat violence. As part of this study, we show how transcripts can be used to document the interactions in which situational analyses feature as part of coordinating and executing linked attacks. Results: Based on the video and our transcripts, we explicate how the military personnel involved collaboratively identified, assessed, and engaged a group of combatants. We show that the incident consisted of 2 attacks or engagements, a first and a follow-up, treated as connec...

Communication & Sport, 2020

Professional sport and initial mental health public disclosure narratives

Education as practiced is predicated upon order, structure and organisation. This educational ord... more Education as practiced is predicated upon order, structure and organisation. This educational order can be 'found' in the classroom within lessons, activities, and tasks, and is the collaborative achievement of those present within them (e.g. teachers, students and, in this case, learning support assistants). The pivotal issue is how the various sense-making practices found in the setting (e.g. talk, gesture, gaze, embodied action) enable those present to 'find their place' within the present educational lesson. These considerations are made perspicuous in the research reported here as the various students present have attributed learning difficulties and disabilities and are attending a Further Education (FE) College to take part in a course purposefully designed to teach them practical everyday living skills. The specific learning difficulties attributed ranged in type and degree and the relevance of these designations will be documented when necessary. For present...

Frontiers in Communication, 2022

By comparing two distinct governmental organizations (the US military and NASA) this paper unpack... more By comparing two distinct governmental organizations (the US military and NASA) this paper unpacks two main issues. On the one hand, the paper examines the transcripts that are produced as part of work activities in these worksites and what the transcripts reveal about the organizations themselves. Additionally, the paper analyses what the transcripts disclose about the practices involved in their creation and use for practical purposes in these organizations. These organizations have been chosen as transcription forms a routine part of how they operate as worksites. Further, the everyday working environments in both organizations involve complex technological systems, as well as multi-party interactions in which speakers are frequently spatially and visually separated. In order to explicate these practices, the article draws on the transcription methods employed in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis research as a comparative resource. In these approaches audio-video data is...

In this article we present an ethnomethodological study of a controversial case of ‘friendly fire... more In this article we present an ethnomethodological study of a controversial case of ‘friendly fire’ from the Iraq War in which leaked video footage, war on video, acquired particular significance. We examine testimony given during a United States Air Force (USAF) investigation of the incident alongside transcribed excerpts from the video to make visible the methods employed by the investigators to assess the propriety of the actions of the pilots involved. With a focus on the way in which the USAF investigators pursued their own analysis of language-in-use in their discussions with the pilots about what had been captured on the video, we turn attention to the background expectancies that analytical work was grounded in. These ‘vernacular’ forms of video analysis and the expectancies which inform them constitute, we suggest, an inquiry into military culture from within that culture. As such, attending to them provides insights into that culture.

In this chapter we discuss what ethnomethodology and conversation analysis can contribute to stud... more In this chapter we discuss what ethnomethodology and conversation analysis can contribute to studies of the military, specifically understandings of ‘action-in-interaction’ in military settings. The chapter is methodologically focused and explores how work in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis provides an alternative way of approaching the problems posed in studying the different forms of practice that constitute ‘soldierly work’. Rather than approach these issues in the abstract, and in line with the central thrust of ethnomethodological (e.g. Garfinkel 1967, 2002; Heritage 1984; Lynch 2007) and conversation analytic studies (e.g. Heritage 1995; Pomerantz & Fehr 1997; Sacks 1995; Schegloff 2007), we shall outline this approach through a discussion of the methods employed, and difficulties encountered, in the course of research we conducted into a specific case. This was a fatal ‘blue-on-blue’ or ‘friendly fire’ attack on British infantry by American aircraft during the Seco...

Communication & Sport, 2020

The disclosure of absences from professional sporting activities to the media is a routine and ge... more The disclosure of absences from professional sporting activities to the media is a routine and generally unproblematic part of a sporting career. However, when the reason for the absence relates to mental health concerns, players can encounter difficulties in trying to define, describe and conceptualise their own issues while attempting to maintain privacy as they undergo assessment and treatment. Drawing on ethnomethodology and conversation analysis principles and methods, this paper explores first/initial public mental health disclosure narratives produced by players and sporting organizations across several professional sports via media interviews, press statements, and social media posts. The analysis focuses on (in)voluntary accounts produced by teams or players themselves during their careers and examines the different communication strategies they employ to categorise and explain their predicament. The analysis reveals how some players provide partial or proxy public disclosu...

Psychology of Violence, 2018

Objective: The objective of this article is to outline an ethnomethodological approach to the stu... more Objective: The objective of this article is to outline an ethnomethodological approach to the study of professionalized violence or violence as work. It focuses primarily on violence in the context of military combat operations and the “situational” analyses and assessments military personnel themselves undertake when engaging in violent action. Method: We use a video from one incident (WikiLeaks’ Collateral Murder release) as a demonstration case to set out the methodological bases of ethnomethodological studies of combat violence. As part of this study, we show how transcripts can be used to document the interactions in which situational analyses feature as part of coordinating and executing linked attacks. Results: Based on the video and our transcripts, we explicate how the military personnel involved collaboratively identified, assessed, and engaged a group of combatants. We show that the incident consisted of 2 attacks or engagements, a first and a follow-up, treated as connected rather than distinct by those involved on situational grounds. Conclusion: Moving beyond controversy, causal explanations, and remedies, the article describes how structures of practical military action can be investigated situationally from an ethnomethodological perspective using video data. By treating collaborative military methods and practices as a focus for inquiry, this article contributes to our understanding of violence as work more broadly.

Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 2016

Introduction Conversation Analysis (CA) can help with the differential diagnosis of seizure disor... more Introduction Conversation Analysis (CA) can help with the differential diagnosis of seizure disorders. We investigated if CA could be used in the memory clinic to distinguish neurodegenerative (NDD) from functional memory disorders (FMD). Methods We recruited consecutive, patients newly referred to the Neurology-led memory Clinic. Consultations were video & audio recorded. All participants underwent detailed Neuropsychology testing and MRI. Results 111 patients of 178 approached were recruited (20 ND, 24 FMD, 87 other). We identified profiles of 14 interactional features that can distinguish NDD from FMD consultations based on encounters with 15 patients with NDD and 15 with FMD. Features of NDD included an inability to answer compound questions fully, inability to give detailed examples of memory failures, shorter length of turn and reduced complexity of replies. Prospective analysis of an additional 10 encounters proved that Conversation Analysts could use these features to predict the diagnoses of FMD and ND with high sensitivity and specificity. Conclusions Simple differences in the communication behaviour of patients can help to distinguish between ND and FMD, suggesting that a targeted observation of interactional features could improve screening for ND in primary or secondary or care settings.

The Palgrave Handbook of Criminology and War, 2016

Through the ongoing work of leak sites, public inquiries, criminal investigations, journalists, w... more Through the ongoing work of leak sites, public inquiries, criminal investigations, journalists, whistleblowers, researchers and others, the public has gained access to a growing number of videos of live military operations in recent years. Capturing such things as friendly fire attacks, civilian deaths and extrajudicial or illegal killings, these videos have attracted public and academic attention due to their ‘revelatory’ qualities. Through an analysis of two particular instances, WikiLeaks’ Collateral Murder and footage of a targeted assassination by the Israeli Defence Force, we argue it is important to analyse exactly how such deaths are digitally re-presented if we are to make use of videos as data in the study of episodes of military violence and the evidential politics they give rise to.

Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2016

CLINIC TO DISTINGUISH DEMENTIA FROM FUNCTIONAL MEMORY DISORDER Daniel J. Blackburn, Chris Elsey, ... more CLINIC TO DISTINGUISH DEMENTIA FROM FUNCTIONAL MEMORY DISORDER Daniel J. Blackburn, Chris Elsey, Sarah Wakefield, Kirsty Harkness, Annalena Venneri, Paul Drew, Markus Reuber, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom; University of Loughborough, Loughborough, United Kingdom; 3 Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, Sheffield, United Kingdom; IRCCS San Camillo Hospital Foundation, Venice, Italy. Contact e-mail: d. blackburn@sheffield.ac.uk

Patient education and counseling, Jan 11, 2015

This study explores whether the profile of patients' interactional behaviour in memory clinic... more This study explores whether the profile of patients' interactional behaviour in memory clinic conversations with a doctor can contribute to the clinical differentiation between functional memory disorders (FMD) and memory problems related to neurodegenerative diseases. Conversation Analysis of video recordings of neurologists' interactions with patients attending a specialist memory clinic. "Gold standard" diagnoses were made independently of CA findings by a multi-disciplinary team based on clinical assessment, neuropsychological testing and brain imaging. Two discrete conversational profiles for patients with memory complaints emerged, including (i) who attends the clinic (i.e., whether or not patients are accompanied), and (ii) patients' responses to neurologists' questions about memory problems, such as difficulties with compound questions and providing specific and elaborated examples and frequent "I don't…

Health and Social Care Education, 2013

Abstract The present article reports upon the analytic progress of a video ethnographic study of ... more Abstract The present article reports upon the analytic progress of a video ethnographic study of bedside teaching encounters (BTEs). Of particular interest is the exploration of how doctor-patient interactions are fundamentally transformed by the presence of medical students. Analysis of a large corpus of video recordings has explored how the concepts of patient-centredness and trust are displayed and learned during real-time BTEs through interaction. A short exemplar from the video corpus is provided to illustrate how these concepts can be ‘found’ in actual medical encounters; for example, by providing spaces for patient questions during consultations.

Trust and Discourse, 2014

The aim of this chapter is to explore a broad and liberal conception of trust within doctor-patie... more The aim of this chapter is to explore a broad and liberal conception of trust within doctor-patient-student triadic bedside teaching encounters (BTEs) during which medical students learn with, from and about patients. Specifically building on past work examining audio-recordings of BTEs, we see trust as being achieved in and through interaction. Using a symbolic interactionist framework to examine interaction (including pronoun use and laughter), Monrouxe and her colleagues analysed the roles and identities that doctors, patients and students construct within these encounters: thus patients’ roles ranged from those of passive props or objects (primarily to be used by doctors and medical students for teaching and learning purposes) to being actively involved in consultations (as directors of physical examinations) (Monrouxe et al., 2009, Rees and Monrouxe, 2008, 2010). These different social roles result in patient inclusion or exclusion from the interaction in which their health was under discussion. Within this chapter we use video-recorded BTEs to explore how trust between doctor and patient is reconstituted, adjusted and reconfigured by the presence of medical students during medical encounters.

Medical Education, 2014

Feedback associated with teaching activities is often synonymous with reflection on action, which... more Feedback associated with teaching activities is often synonymous with reflection on action, which comprises the evaluative assessment of performance out of its original context. Feedback in action (as correction during clinical encounters) is an underexplored, complementary resource facilitating students&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; understanding and learning. The purpose of this study was to explore the interactional patterns and correction modalities utilised in feedback sequences between doctors and students within general practice-based bedside teaching encounters (BTEs). A qualitative video ethnographic approach was used. Participants were recorded in their natural settings to allow interactional practices to be contextually explored. We examined 12 BTEs recorded across four general practices and involving 12 patients, four general practitioners and four medical students (209 minutes and 20 seconds of data) taken from a larger corpus. Data analysis was facilitated by Transana video analysis software and informed by previous conversation analysis research in ordinary conversation, classrooms and health care settings. A range of correction strategies across a spectrum of underlying explicitness were identified. Correction strategies classified at extreme poles of this scale (high or low explicitness) were believed to be less interactionally effective. For example, those using abrupt closing of topics (high explicitness) or interactional ambiguity (low explicitness) were thought to be less effective than embedded correction strategies that enabled the student to reach the correct answer with support. We believe that educators who are explicitly taught linguistic strategies for how to manage feedback in BTEs might manage learning more effectively. For example, clinicians might maximise learning moments during BTEs by avoiding abrupt or ambiguous feedback practices. Embedded correction strategies can enhance student participation by guiding students towards the correct answer. Clinician corrections can sensitively manage student face-saving by minimising the exposure of student error to patients. Furthermore, we believe that the effective practices highlighted by our analysis might facilitate successful transformation of feedback in action into feedback for action.

Advances in Health Sciences Education, 2016

Aging & mental health, Jan 24, 2015

In the UK dementia is under-diagnosed, there is limited access to specialist memory clinics, and ... more In the UK dementia is under-diagnosed, there is limited access to specialist memory clinics, and many of the patients referred to such clinics are ultimately found to have functional (non-progressive) memory disorders (FMD), rather than a neurodegenerative disorder. Government initiatives on 'timely diagnosis' aim to improve the rate and quality of diagnosis for those with dementia. This study seeks to improve the screening and diagnostic process by analysing communication between clinicians and patients during initial specialist clinic visits. Establishing differential conversational profiles could help the timely differential diagnosis of memory complaints. This study is based on video- and audio recordings of 25 initial consultations between neurologists and patients referred to a UK memory clinic. Conversation analysis was used to explore recurrent communicative practices associated with each diagnostic group. Two discrete conversational profiles began to emerge, to help...

By comparing two distinct governmental organizations (the US military and NASA) this paper unpack... more By comparing two distinct governmental organizations (the US military and NASA) this paper unpacks two main issues. On the one hand, the paper examines the transcripts that are produced as part of work activities in these worksites and what the transcripts reveal about the organizations themselves. Additionally, the paper analyses what the transcripts disclose about the practices involved in their creation and use for practical purposes in these organizations. These organizations have been chosen as transcription forms a routine part of how they operate as worksites. Further, the everyday working environments in both organizations involve complex technological systems, as well as multi-party interactions in which speakers are frequently spatially and visually separated. In order to explicate these practices, the article draws on the transcription methods employed in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis as a comparative resource. In these approaches audio-video data is transcribed in a fine-grained manner that captures temporal aspects of talk, as well as how speech is delivered. Using these approaches to transcription as an analytical device enables us to investigate when and why transcripts are produced by the US military and NASA in the specific ways that they are, as well as what exactly is being re-presented in the transcripts and thus what was treated as worth transcribing in the interactions they are intended to serve as documents of. By analysing these transcription practices it becomes clear that these organizations create huge amounts of audio-video “data” about their routine activities. One major difference between them is that the US military selectively transcribe this data (usually for the purposes of investigating incidents in which civilians might have been injured), whereas NASA’s “transcription machinery” aims to capture as much of their mission-related interactions as is organizationally possible (i.e., within the physical limits and capacities of their radio communications systems). As such the paper adds to our understanding of transcription practices and how this is related to the internal working, accounting and transparency practices within different kinds of organization. The article also examines how the original transcripts have been used by researchers (and others) outside of the organizations themselves for alternative purposes.

Ethnographic Studies, 2018

In this article we present an ethnomethodological study of a controversial case of 'friendly ... more In this article we present an ethnomethodological study of a controversial case of 'friendly fire' from the Iraq War in which leaked video footage, war on video, acquired particular significance. We examine testimony given during a United States Air Force (USAF) investigation of the incident alongside transcribed excerpts from the video to make visible the methods employed by the investigators to assess the propriety of the actions of the pilots involved. With a focus on the way in which the USAF investigators pursued their own analysis of language-in-use in their discussions with the pilots about what had been captured on the video, we turn attention to the background expectancies that analytical work was grounded in. These 'vernacular' forms of video analysis and the expectancies which inform them constitute, we suggest, an inquiry into military culture from within that culture. As such, attending to them provides insights into that culture.

Alzheimer disease and associated disorders, Jan 9, 2018

Specialist services for dementia are seeing an increasing number of patients. We investigated whe... more Specialist services for dementia are seeing an increasing number of patients. We investigated whether interactional and linguistic features in the communication behavior of patients with memory problems could help distinguish between those with problems secondary to neurological disorders (ND) and those with functional memory disorder (FMD). In part 1 of this study, a diagnostic scoring aid (DSA) was developed encouraging linguists to provide quantitative ratings for 14 interactional features. An optimal cut-off differentiating ND and FMD was established by applying the DSA to 30 initial patient-doctor memory clinic encounters. In part 2, the DSA was tested prospectively in 10 additional cases analyzed independently by 2 conversation analysts blinded to medical information. In part 1, the median score of the DSA was +5 in ND and -5 in FMD (P<0.001). The optimal numeric DSA cut-off (+1) identified patients with ND with a sensitivity of 86.7% and a specificity of 100%. In part 2, D...

Psychology of Violence, 2018

Objective: The objective of this article is to outline an ethnomethodological approach to the stu... more Objective: The objective of this article is to outline an ethnomethodological approach to the study of professionalized violence or violence as work. It focuses primarily on violence in the context of military combat operations and the “situational” analyses and assessments military personnel themselves undertake when engaging in violent action. Method: We use a video from one incident (WikiLeaks’ Collateral Murder release) as a demonstration case to set out the methodological bases of ethnomethodological studies of combat violence. As part of this study, we show how transcripts can be used to document the interactions in which situational analyses feature as part of coordinating and executing linked attacks. Results: Based on the video and our transcripts, we explicate how the military personnel involved collaboratively identified, assessed, and engaged a group of combatants. We show that the incident consisted of 2 attacks or engagements, a first and a follow-up, treated as connec...

Communication & Sport, 2020

Professional sport and initial mental health public disclosure narratives