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Politics, policy and privatisation in the everyday experience of Big Data in the NHS
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Goffey, Andrew , Pettinger, Lynne and Speed, Ewen (2014) Politics, policy and privatisation in the everyday experience of Big Data in the NHS. In: Hand, Martin and Hillyard, Sam , (eds.) Big Data? Qualitative Approaches to Digital Research (Studies in Qualitative Methodology. Studies in Qualitative Methodology, Volume 13 . Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp. 31-50. ISBN 9781784410513
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/S1042-319220140000013003
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter explains how fundamental organisational change in the UK National Health Service (NHS) is being effected by new practices of digitised information gathering and use. It analyses the taken-for-granted IT infrastructures that lie behind digitisation and considers the relationship between digitisation and big data.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative research methods including discourse analysis, ethnography of software and key informant interviews were used. Actor-network theories, as developed by Science and technology Studies (STS) researchers were used to inform the research questions, data gathering and analysis. The chapter focuses on the aftermath of legislation to change the organisation of the NHS.
Findings
The chapter shows the benefits of qualitative research into specific manifestations information technology. It explains how apparently ‘objective’ and ‘neutral’ quantitative data gathering and analysis is mediated by complex software practices. It considers the political power of claims that data is neutral.
Originality/value
The chapter provides insight into a specific case of healthcare data and. It makes explicit the role of politics and the State in digitisation and shows how STS approaches can be used to understand political and technological practice.
| Item Type: | Book Item | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology | ||||
| Series Name: | Studies in Qualitative Methodology | ||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Studies in Qualitative Methodology | ||||
| Publisher: | Emerald Group Publishing Limited | ||||
| ISBN: | 9781784410513 | ||||
| ISSN: | 1042-3192 | ||||
| Book Title: | Big Data? Qualitative Approaches to Digital Research (Studies in Qualitative Methodology | ||||
| Editor: | Hand, Martin and Hillyard, Sam | ||||
| Official Date: | 2014 | ||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | Volume 13 | ||||
| Page Range: | pp. 31-50 | ||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||
| Related URLs: |
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