Russell Mannion's critique on Dr Yen-Fu Chen's presentation on publication bias in service delivery research for the CLAHRC WM Scientific Advisory Group, 10th June 2015, Birmingham, UK

1. Publication bias: widening the
research lens?
12/06/2015
Professor Russell Mannion
Health Services Management Centre
University of Birmingham
CLAHRC West Midlands International Scientific Advisory Group

2. Widening the lens
• Sub-analysis by type of journal
• Sub-analysis by research design/epistemology
• Knowledge mobilisation bias

3. Journals
Bio-medicalOrganisation
&
Management

4. Types of Journal
Management/organisation HSR/Health Policy Bio-medical
Social Science and Medicine The Milbank Quarterly NEJ
Organisation Studies Journal of Health Services, JAMA
Research and Policy
Human Relations
Health Policy BMJ
Sociology of Health and Illness Health Services Research The Lancet
Health Affairs

5. Organisational Culture
That which is ‘shared’ within organisations:
• Beliefs, values, norms of behaviour
• Routines, traditions, ceremonies, rewards
• Meanings, narratives and sense-making
Helps define legitimacy and acceptability:
• Social and normative glue
• ‘The way things are done around here’….

6. Culture & Performance?
Culture
Performance

7. Contested nature of culture
Organisations have cultures:
Aspects that are (relatively) stable; that can (in part) be isolated and
described; that can readily measured and be targeted for change
Culture as an organisational VARIABLE
Organisations are cultures:
dynamic process of social construction; unstable and fragile insights;
multiple perspectives; always open to challenge; about context, power and
perceptions.
Culture as RICH DESCRIPTION

8. Knowledge mobilisation bias
• If the aim of HSDR Research is to produce high quality, scientifically rigorous and
academically robust evidence for key decision makers in the health system then
publication bias is just the tip of the iceberg
• Need to investigate and mitigate the potential for bias at all stages of the knowledge
mobilisation process
• From the commissioning of research (what gets funded and what does not) to all
aspects of knowledge linkage and exchange in the health system, including social
media reporting bias
• Mixed-methods research design