Disturbing Observations as a Basis for Collaborative Research

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgements The author wishes to thank Peter Danholt, Sylvie Fortin, Dawn Goodwin and Julia Quartz for their helpful comments. Also the suggestions from the participants of the workshops on action-oriented research (Amsterdam (2005) and Aarhus (2006)), the members of the STS research programme at the University of Maastricht, the guest editors of this special issue and the anonymous reviewers of Science as Culture are highly appreciated. Notes 1. For a discussion of these different approaches, see Downey and Dumit (1997) Downey, G. L. and Dumit, J. 1997. Cyborgs and Citadels: Anthropological Interventions in Emerging Sciences and Technologies, Edited by: Downey, G. L. and Dumit, J. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Press. [Google Scholar], the special issue on ethnography and intervention of the Scandinavian Journal for Information Systems (Pors et al., 2002 Pors, J. K., Henriksen, D., Winthereik, B. R. and Berg, M. 2002. Challenging divisions: Exploring the intersections of ethnography and intervention in IS research. Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems, 14(2): 3–7. Special Issue on Ethnography and Intervention [Google Scholar]) and a special issue of Science and Public Policy on interactive social science (Caswill and Shove, 2000a Caswill, C. and Shove, E. 2000a. Introducing interactive social science. Science and Public Policy, 27(3): 154–158. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). 2. To excavate hidden—and as such invisible—resources an adequate level of understanding of the practice involved is a requirement. Therefore I will use my expertise on the NICU which is based on a former research project. See Mesman (2005) Mesman, J. 2005. The origins of prognostic differences: A topography of experience and expectation in a neonatal intensive care unit. Qualitative Sociology, 28(1): 49–66. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar] and Coeckelbergh and Mesman (2007) Coeckelbergh, M. and Mesman, J. 2007. With hope and imagination: Imaginative moral decision-making in neonatal intensive care units. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 10: 3–21. [Google Scholar]. Mainstream anthropology argues that it is crucial to understand the content of actions. In the 1980s when laboratory studies were fashionable, this argument was also defended by STS scholars like Collins (1983 Collins, H. M. 1983. "An empirical relativist programme in the sociology of scientific knowledge". In Science Observed, Edited by: Knorr, K. and Mulkay, M. J. 85–114. Beverley Hills and London: Sage. [Google Scholar], 1984 Collins, H. M. 1984. "Concepts and methods of participatory fieldwork". In Social Researching, Edited by: Bell, C. and Roberts, H. 54–69. Henley-on-Thames: Routledge. [Google Scholar]), Knorr-Cetina (1981) Knorr-Cetina, K. 1981. The Manufacture of Knowledge: An Essay on the Constructivist and Contextual Nature of Science, New York: Pergamon Press. [Google Scholar] and Traweek (1988) Traweek, S. 1988. Beamtimes and Lifetimes: The World of High Energy Physicists, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. [Google Scholar]. Latour and Woolgar (1986) Latour, B. and Woolgar, S. 1986. Laboratory Life: The Construction of Scientific Facts, Princeton: Princeton University Press. [Google Scholar], on the other hand, defended the perspective of 'the very naïve observer'. See Downey and Dumit (1997) Downey, G. L. and Dumit, J. 1997. Cyborgs and Citadels: Anthropological Interventions in Emerging Sciences and Technologies, Edited by: Downey, G. L. and Dumit, J. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Press. [Google Scholar] for a discussion on this issue. 3. In a 'blame-free reporting system' the hospital considers reporting the circumstances of the event as more important than identifying the people involved. The system stresses the need to learn from mistakes. Therefore an investigation of the event is focused upon learning the lessons instead of blaming the healthcare workers. 4. Additionally I interview members of patient safety related units in the hospital, like hospital hygienists, risk managers, apothecaries and microbiologists. They offer information on the in-coming and outgoing streams of formal knowledge (protocols, guidelines) in relation to actual NICU situations. 5. See Markussen and Olesen (2007) Markussen, R. and Olesen, F. 2007. Rhetorical authority in STS: Reflections on a study of IT implementation at a hospital ward. Science as Culture, 16(3): 267–279. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar] for a critical reflection on this matter. 6. Nurses working on the NICU not only have a degree in paediatrics, but also a degree in neonatology and on top of that a certificate for neonatology intensive care. 7. Circulating at different locations for different purposes might expose the ethnographer to the dilemma about overt and covert observation. See Goodwin et al. (2003) Goodwin, D., Pope, C., Mort, M. and Smith, A. 2003. 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