Dentists' knowledge-in-practice
Research type
Research Study
Full title
How do routines, case-based reasoning and innovating interact as general dental practitioners generate abstract and specific knowledge-in-practice? An ethnographic and qualitative interview-based study
IRAS ID
216672
Contact name
Richard Dominic Hurst
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Oxford
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 1 months, 29 days
Research summary
There is a lot of interest in professional knowledge because of its perceived role in the quality of clinical practice. Clinical work is not a science or an art but a science-informed practice and it is knowledge-in-practice that should be central to the analysis of clinical work. Despite this, relatively few empirical studies have been conducted of how dentists and other clinicians construct their knowledge-in-practice.
This study will audio- and video-record general dental practitioners and staff and their clinical encounters with adult patients attending for check-ups and short treatment appointments. The videos will be used to stimulate reflection among dentists about their knowledge-in-practice during particular clinical encounters and allow ethnographic observation of the encounter by the researcher separately.
An estimated 10 dentists will be recorded for one half-day session with an interview following this. Audio transcripts of the clinical encounters and interviews, along with observation notes from the videos, will be analysed thematically using a mixed deductive-inductive approach.REC name
West of Scotland REC 3
REC reference
17/WS/0064
Date of REC Opinion
13 Apr 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion