Translating between social worlds of policy and everyday life: The development of a group-based method to support policymaking by exploring behavioural aspects of sustainable consumption.

A large international literature on how lay citizens make sense of various aspects of science and technology has been generated by investigations which utilise small group methods. Within that literature, focus group and other group-based methods have come to co-exist, and to some extent, hybridise, with the use of small groups in citizen engagement initiatives. In this article, we report on how we drew upon these methodological developments in the design and operationalisation of a policymaking support tool (STAVE).

Investigating the degree of "stigma" associated with nuclear energy technologies: A cross-cultural examination of the case of fusion power.

The extent to which nuclear energy technologies are, in some sense, "stigmatised" by historical environmental and military associations is of particular interest in contemporary debates about sustainable energy policy. Recent claims in the literature suggest that despite such stigmatisation, lay views on such technologies may be shifting towards a "reluctant acceptance," in the light of concerns about issues like anthropogenic climate change. In this paper, we report on research into learning and reasoning processes concerned with a largely unknown nuclear energy technology; namely fusion power.

"Disciplining witnesses" in the teaching of physiotherapy: some insights into the practical accomplishment of a science-based healthcare profession.

Physiotherapy in the UK defines itself as a "science-based healthcare profession". Physiotherapy students must undertake at least one thousand hours of learning in live practice settings. Adopting an analytic stance shaped by interaction analysis and workplace studies, and drawing on observational data of placement settings, this paper examines some features of the means by which physiotherapy education is practically accomplished.

Understanding fear of cancer recurrence in terms of damage to 'everyday health competence'.

Advances in clinical treatments are resulting in cancer patients living longer, but with the threat of the disease returning at some later date. Anxiety associated with this fear of recurrence, which seems widespread among patients, can lead to an enhanced bodily awareness and a pronounced tendency to interpret mundane sensations as symptoms of pathology. Relatively little sociological work has been done to systematically document, understand, and find ways of addressing, this syndrome and its impact on the quality of patients' lives.

Using surveys in public participation processes for risk decision making: the case of the 2003 British GM Nation? Public debate.

This article takes as its case study the "GM Nation?" public debate, a major participation process on the commercialization of agricultural biotechnology, which occurred in Britain during the summer of 2003. We investigate possible self-selection biases in over 36,000 open questionnaire responses on the risks and benefits of genetically modified crops and food obtained during GM Nation? A comparison sample of equivalent responses from a statistically representative sample (n = 1,363) of the British general public obtained shortly after the conclusion of the debate is reported. This comparison shows that the GM Nation? open responses were indeed not fully representative of British "public opinion" regarding agricultural biotechnology.

How can doctors communicate information about risk more effectively?

Effective communication of risk can improve both individual and national health, and there has been substantial investment in such communication. Has this yielded the anticipated improvements in health?