“Making a difference – an ethnographic study of selection into nursing” Through this conference contribution I wish to make the point that ethnographic research allows for new and original perspectives to be taken on practices which have seemingly become fixed through the way they have been researched. Using the example of selection into nursing courses I will demonstrate that a research method does not only shape how a practice is understood but in turn shape what practice entails and actually does. Selection into healthcare in the UK has in in the past been dominated by approaches related to ideas from the field of workpsychology. Workpsychology positions selection as a method which, if designed appropriately and followed exactly, can predict particular outcomes, such as “the right student” (or the wrong one). Although the methods (and the ways such methods have been seen to be “effective”) have changed over the last 30 years, the assumptions made about what constitutes a “good method” have not. Methods are discussed as having properties such as reliability, validity and fairness and such properties are independent of the actors who design and “apply” the method. In order to establish effectiveness of methods the same principles and assumptions are employed, that is, selection methods so far have exclusively been researched using deterministic and positivist methodologies, establishing to what extent properties are measured or how outcomes are comparable between methods or selectors. Where design of methods, the content of methods (such as interview questions or the assumptions underlying those) or views about methods are concerned, these are often researched independently of the method itself, thereby creating a purity of method which is unaffected by its enactment. The present study, part of my doctoral research, attempts to understand selection differently. Drawing on ideas from grounded theory and ANT, an ethnographic study was conducted of selection events to nursing degree courses. At three Universities selection events were observed and interviews were conducted with academic staff, administrators and service users and carers, who were involved with interviewing prospective students. Data generated was analysed using immersive approaches, continuous and reflective writing and concurrent reading of literature that became relevant through engagement with the data. Undertaking an ethnographic study, thinking with concepts from ANT, allowed for selection to be understood differently from the tenor of current research. In this version, selection methods are not predecessors to actions but are shaped and re-shaped through the interactions practiced during selection. They are an effect of the work done by scripts, furniture and selectors. Similarly, “good” or “bad” applicants do not pre-exist selection events but are an outcome of interactions between selection materials and personnel. This means that difference, a concept invoked during selection to justify decisions, does not pre-exist selection but is made. Here this study makes an original contribution to the empirical field of selection practice as well as to the theoretical field which seeks to understand and classify selection as mere observation.
ORCID: 
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)