Partnerships in research: Doing linguistic ethnography with and for practitioners

In this chapter I reflect on linguistic-ethnographic research I conducted in partnership with surgeons. My focus is twofold: I explore how the partnership has shaped my research; and I illustrate how linguistic ethnography can contribute to public and professional debates about health care. Three joint research projects on learning and communication in the operating theatre form the backdrop of the chapter. In each of these projects I worked closely with two surgeons: Roger Kneebone and Alexandra Cope. In the first project, ‘Mapping Educational Activity in the Operating Theatre’, we looked at on-the-job surgical training (funded by the London Deanery, the organisation responsible for postgraduate medical education; and the Royal College of Surgeons of England). In the second project, ‘Digital Technologies in the Operating Theatre’, we explored the role of video technology in surgery (funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)). In the third project, ‘Transient Teams in the Operating Theatre’, we investigated communication between surgeons and nurses during operations (funded by the ESRC). The chapter is based on my field notes, email exchanges with my research partners and memos I wrote after field work. The chapter follows different stages in the partnership. First, I discuss the field work I did in a London hospital. Second, I outline the theoretical and methodological perspectives that guided my initial engagement with the data. Third, I present two case studies that illustrate how I built on these perspectives to address the concerns of surgeons, health care professionals and the public more widely, which focus on the pertinent and timely question of how to improve the safety and quality of health care.

Bezemer, J. (in press). Partnerships in research: Doing linguistic ethnography with and for practitioners.
In F. Copland, S. Shaw and J. Snell (eds). Linguistic Ethnography: Interdisciplinary Explorations. Palgrave Advances Series. Read the manuscript.