Research Interests
Health and illness experience Through my applied research in local health care services I have become more interested in the relationship between health practitioners and members of the public and the impact this relationship has on the management of health and the experience of illness.
eHealth and the mass media I am interested in what it means to be a 'patient' (or 'virtual patient') in contemporary culture. Innovative health technologies, the exponential growth of e-communities for those with chronic health conditions or seeking health advice or support have created new phenomena that must be understood in relation to existing, more traditional health care services.
Phenomenology, mixing methodologies and health psychology Much of my substantive research involves methodological projects too - e.g. testing out innovative methods like online interviewing, exploring theoretical questions about possible links between phenomenology and health psychology models, or developing everyday mechanisms for engaging in reflexivity.
Current and Recent Grants
Managing general health: Research into the experiences of older people with sight loss. PI with J. Gibson (ARCHA; Aston Research Centre for Healthy Ageing), R. Marsden (Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust). Thomas Pocklington Trust, £30,000; HEFT £10,000, 2012-13.
Collaborative Research between Aston Research Centre for Healthy Ageing (ARCHA) and the ExtraCare Charitable Trust. With C. Holland (PI), K. West, G. Leask, M. Carter, R. Cooke, R. Powell (ARCHA). ExtraCare Charitable Trust, £230,000, 2012-14.
Staff retention in Paediatric Intensive Care Unit. PI. Birmingham Children’s Hospital, £3,500, 2011.
Evaluation of the Vascular Screening Programme. With R. Cooke (PI), H. Pattison, C. Holland, E. Peel (all LHS, Aston University). Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust, £85,000, 2010-12.
Development of an intervention to promote breast screening uptake in Chinese-British women. Breast Cancer Campaign, £18,000, with H. Pattison (PI; LHS, Aston University) (2008-2009).
Development of e-learning materials for health master’s programmes. With H. Pattison, C. Holland, R. Cooke (all LHS, Aston University). Aston University’s Centre for Learning Innovation and Professional Practice (CLIPP), £2,000, 2008-9.
Development of a web-based resource to aid the teaching of qualitative research methods at undergraduate level. Higher Education Academy, £6,000, with S. Gibson (PI; York St John University) (2007-2008).
Exploring media representations of voluntary childlessness. £7000, British Academy Small Research Grant, with D. Giles (University of Lancaster) (2007-2008).
Research Students
Amy Armstrong. Personal Trauma as a formative development experience: a narrative perspective. Associate supervisor with M. Butler, Principal supervisor (Aston Business School). Part-time 2008-14.
Peter Reddy. Undergraduate development, scholarship, employability and employment. Principal supervisor with E. Moores (Aston University). 2011-14.
Adrienne Hudson. Preparing nurses to care for a child suffering an acute life threatening event (2010-2013). Principal supervisor with H. Duncan (Birmingham Children’s Hospital), External consultant and H. Pattison (Aston University). West Midlands Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professions Research Training Award.
Amy Burton. Quality of Life and Wellbeing in Older Patients with Macular Degeneration: A Longitudinal Mixed Methods Study (2009-12). Associate supervisor with J. Gibson (Principal supervisor) and E. Peel. ARCHA Studentship.
Christian Borg Xuereb. Patients' knowledge and beliefs about atrial fibillation and anticoagulant therapy and their impact on INR control and quality of life (2009-12). Principal Supervisor with Deidre Lane (City Hospital) as External Consultant.
Adam Jowett. Chronic Illness and LBTQ psychology (completed). Associate Supervisor with Liz Peel as Principal Supervisor.
Louise Donnelly. Virtual help seeking among infertile couples (completed). Principal Supervisor.
Peer Reviewed Publications
Bennion, A.E., Shaw, R.L. & Gibson, J.M. (2012). What do we know about the experience of age-related macular degeneration? A systematic review and meta-synthesis of qualitative research. Social Science & Medicine, 75, 976-985.
Borg Xuereb, C., Shaw, R.L. & Lane, D.A. (2012). Patients’ and health professionals’ views and experiences of atrial fibrillation and oral-anticoagulant therapy: a qualitative meta-synthesis. Patient Education and Counseling, 88, 330-337. DOI: 10.1016/j.pec.2012.05.011
Frost, N., Eatough, V., Shaw, R.L., Lee Weille, K., Tzemou, E. & Baraitser, L. (2012). Pleasure, pain and procrastination: reflections on the experience of doing memory-work research. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 9(3), 231-248.DOI: 10.1080/14780887.2010.500355
Jowett, A., Peel, E. & Shaw, R.L. (2012). Sex and diabetes: a thematic analysis of gay and bisexual men’s accounts. Journal of Health Psychology, 17(3), 409-418. DOI: 10.1177/1359105311412838
Jowett, A., Peel, E. & Shaw, R.L. (2011) Online Interviewing in Psychology: Reflections on the process. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 8(4), 354-369.DOI: 10.1080/14780887.2010.500352
Shaw, R.L. (2011). Celebrating the achievements and preparing for the challenges ahead in IPA research. Invited commentary. Health Psychology Review, 5(1), 28-33..DOI:10.1080/17437199.2010.524808
Taylor, C., Shaw, R.L., Dale, J. & French, D. (2011). Enhancing delivery of health behaviour change interventions in primary care: a meta-synthesis of views and experiences of primary care nurses. Patient Education & Counselling, 85(2), 615-322. DOI:10.1016/j.pec.2010.10.001
Shaw, R.L. (2011). Women’s experiential journey toward voluntary childlessness. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 21, 151-163. DOI: 10.1002/casp.1072
Shaw, R.L., Whitehead, C. & Giles, D.C. (2010). “Crack down on the celebrity junkies”: does media coverage of celebrity drug use pose a risk to young people? Health, Risk & Society, 12(6), 575-589. DOI: 10.1080/13698575.2010.515736
Shaw, R.L. (2010). Embedding reflexivity within experiential qualitative psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 7(3), 233-243. DOI: 10.1080/14780880802699092
Giles, D.C. & Shaw, R.L. (2009). The psychology of news influence and development of Media Framing Analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Compass, 3/4, 375-393. DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2009.00180.x
Giles, D.C., Shaw, R.L. & Morgan, W. (2009). Representations of voluntary childlessness in the UK press, 1990-2008. Journal of Health Psychology, 14, 1218-1228.
Shaw, R.L. & Giles, D.C. (2009). Motherhood on ice? A media framing analysis of older mothers in the UK news. Psychology & Health, 24(2), 221-236.
Shaw, R.L., Senior, C., Peel, E.A., Cooke, R. & Donnelly, L.S. (2008). Ethical issues in neuroimaging health research: an IPA study with research participants. Journal of Health Psychology, 13(8), 1051-1059.
Eatough, V., Smith, J.A. & Shaw, R.L. (2008). Women, anger and aggression: an interpretative phenomenological analysis. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 23(12), 1767-1799.
Donnelly, L.S., Shaw, R.L. & van den Akker, O.B.A. (2008). eHealth as a challenge to ‘expert’ power: a focus group study of Internet use for health information and management. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 101, 501-506.
Shaw, R.L., Dyson, P.O. & Peel, E. (2008). Qualitative psychology at M level: a dialogue between learner and teacher. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 5(3), 179-191.
Ockleford, E., Shaw, R.L., Willars, J. & Dixon-Woods, M. (2008). Education and self-management for people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes: a qualitative study of patients’ views. Chronic Illness, 4, 28-37.
Senior, C., Smyth, H., Cooke, R., Shaw, R.L. & Peel, E. (2007) Mapping the mind for the modern market researcher. Qualitative Market Research: An international journal, 10(2), 153-167.
Dixon-Woods, M., Sutton, A.J., Shaw. R.L., Miller, T., Smith, J.A., Young, B., Bonas, S., Booth, A., Jones, D.R. (2007) Appraising qualitative research for inclusion in systematic reviews: a quantitative and qualitative comparison of three methods. Journal of Health Services Research and Policy, 12(1), 42-47.
Cooke, R., Peel, E., Shaw, R.L. & Senior, C. (2007) The neuroimaging research process from the participants’ perspective. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 63, 152-158.
Altaff, S., Oppenheimer, C., Shaw, R.L., Waugh, J. & Dixon-Woods, M. (2006) Practices and views on fetal heart monitoring: a structured observation and interview study. British Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 113, 409-418.
Dixon-Woods, M., Bonas, S., Booth, A., Jones, D.R., Miller, T.A., Shaw, R.L., Smith, J.A. Sutton, A.J., & Young, B. (2006) How can systematic qualitative reviews incorporate qualitative research? A critical perspective. Qualitative Research, 6(1), 27-44.
Dixon-Woods, M., Shaw, R.L., Agarwal, S., Smith, J.A. (2004) The problem of quality in qualitative research. Quality & Safety in Healthcare, 13, 223-225.
Shaw, R.L., Booth, A., Sutton, A.J., Miller, T., Smith, J.A., Young, B., Jones, D.R., Dixon-Woods, M. (2004) Finding qualitative research: an evaluation of search strategies. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 4, issue 5 (Open Access article available at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2288/4/5).
Shaw, R.L., Wallace, L.M., Cook, M.K.M., Phillips, A.C. (2004) Perceptions of the Breast-feeding Best Start Protocol. The Practising Midwife, 7(1), 20-24.
Shaw, R.L. (2004) Making sense of violence: a study of narrative meaning. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 1(2), 131-151.
Shaw, R.L., Wallace, L.M., Bansal, M. (2003) Is breast best? Perceptions of infant feeding. Community Practitioner, 76(8), 299-303.
Professional Publications
Shaw, R.L. (2010). On being thrown into phenomenological research: a book review of J.A. Smith, P. Flowers & M. Larkin (2009). Interpretative phenomenological analysis: theory, method and research. London: Sage. Journal of Health Psychology, 15(2), 310-312.
Shaw, R.L. (2007) Theory and research in qualitative psychology: a review of Prof David Rennie’s keynote address and the qualitative methods in psychology symposium at the BPS Annual Conference 2007. Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section Newsletter, 4, 5-8.
Shaw, R.L. (2007) Showcasing qualitative psychology: seminar review. Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section Newsletter, 3, 26-28.
Shaw, R.L. (2007) HEA teaching qualitative research methods at undergraduate level. Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section Newsletter, 3, 39-40.
Aroboto, T. & Shaw, R.L. (2006) Why we use qualitative methods in psychology. Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section Newsletter, 2, 17-18.
Shaw, R.L. (2005) A profile of health psychology at Aston University. Health Psychology Update, 14(3), 51-54.
Shaw, R.L. (2001) Why use interpretative phenomenological analysis in health psychology? Health Psychology Update, 10(4), 48-52.
Book Chapters
Shaw, R.L. (2012). The lived experience of a qualitative health psychologist. In M. Forshaw & D. Sheffield (Eds.) Health psychology in action. Wiley Blackwell.
Shaw, R.L. (2011). Identifying and synthesising qualitative literature. In D. Harper & A. Thompson (Eds.) Qualitative research methods in mental health and psychotherapy: An introduction for students and practitioners. Wiley Blackwell.
Shaw, R.L. (2010). Conducting literature reviews. In M. Forrester (Ed.) Doing qualitative research in psychology. London: Sage.
Shaw, R.L. (2010). Interpretative phenomenological analysis. In M. Forrester (Ed.) Doing qualitative research in psychology. London: Sage.
Invited Conference Presentations
Shaw, R.L. (2012). “What do we know anyway?”: the role of experiential knowledge in health services research. Keynote address to the Inaugural Applied Qualitative Research Conference, 21 Jun, University of Derby, UK.
Shaw, R.L. (2012). Chair of Symposium: Toward a mixed methodology and the challenge of overcoming ‘irreconcilable epistemological differences’. Qualitative Methods in Psychology (QMiP) Section Conference, joined with the British Psychological Annual Conference, 18-20 Apr, Grand Connaught Rooms, London, UK.
Shaw, R.L. & Flowers, P. (2012). The contribution of qualitative and mixed methods research to evidence synthesis in evidence based health care: a strategic reason for mixing methodologies. Invited as part of Symposium, Toward a mixed methodology and the challenge of overcoming ‘irreconcilable epistemological differences’, Chaired by Dr R.L. Shaw, Qualitative Methods in Psychology (QMiP) Section Conference, joined with the British Psychological Annual Conference, 18-20 Apr, Grand Connaught Rooms, London, UK.
Shaw, R.L. (2012). “What do we know anyway?”: the role of experiential knowledge in health services research. Keynote address to the Inaugural Applied Qualitative Research Conference, 21 Jun, University of Derby, UK.
Shaw, R.L. (2012). Chair of Symposium: Toward a mixed methodology and the challenge of overcoming ‘irreconcilable epistemological differences’. Qualitative Methods in Psychology (QMiP) Section Conference, joined with the British Psychological Annual Conference, 18-20 Apr, Grand Connaught Rooms, London, UK.
Shaw, R.L. & Flowers, P. (2012). The contribution of qualitative and mixed methods research to evidence synthesis in evidence based health care: a strategic reason for mixing methodologies. Invited as part of Symposium, Toward a mixed methodology and the challenge of overcoming ‘irreconcilable epistemological differences’, Chaired by Dr R.L. Shaw, Qualitative Methods in Psychology (QMiP) Section Conference, joined with the British Psychological Annual Conference, 18-20 Apr, Grand Connaught Rooms, London, UK.
Shaw, R.L. & Bonas, S. (2011). Making sense of voluntary childlessness: an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of four women’s accounts. Invited as part of Symposium,Phenomenological Psychology and the Question of Complexity, Chaired by Prof P. Ashworth, British Psychological Society Annual Conference, 4-6 May, Glasgow, UK.
Shaw, R.L. (2008). Embedding reflexivity within IPA research. Keynote address to the 9th Annual IPA Conference, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
Shaw, R.L., Booth, A., Sutton, A.J., Dixon-Woods, M., Jones, D.R., Miller, T.A., Smith, J.A. & Young, B. (2004). Electronically searching for qualitative literature. ESRC Research Methods Programme Researchers’ Conference, University of Manchester, UK.
Shaw, R.L., Wallace, L.M. & Bansal, M. (2002). Coventry young mothers infant feeding study: mothers’ perceptions of and decision-making processes about infant feeding. The National Infant Feeding Symposium, Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
CPD Provision
Facilitator of International Training Events
3 Day Workshop: Overcoming our “irreconcilable epistemological differences”: Mixing Methodologies in Health Psychology, Aug 2012; co-facilitated with P. Flowers; delivered for SYNERGY, European Health Psychology Society.
3 Day Workshop: Systematic Review Methodology, Meta-analysis and meta-synthesis, Sept 2011; co-facilitated with W. Hardeman, R. Cooke; delivered for CREATE, European Health Psychology Society.
Facilitator of CPD Training Courses
3 Day Series of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) Workshops: Introduction to IPA, Advanced IPA, Training IPA Trainers; co-facilitated with J.A. Smith, M. Larkin, P. Flowers, V. Eatough, R. de-Visser; Birkbeck, University of London, 2011, Aston University 2010, University of Birmingham, 2009, Dublin City University, 2009.
Introduction to IPA 1 Day Workshop; by invitation at various institutions since 2005 & bi-annual at Aston University since 2006.
Two-day Qualitative Methods Course
Assessing the Quality of Qualitative Research; co-facilitated with M. Dixon-Woods, T.A. Miller, D.R. Jones, A.J. Sutton, J.A. Smith & B. Young, July 2004.
Invited Speaker at Research Seminars
Shaw, R.L., Cooke, R., Holland, C., Pattison, H., Cooper, Y. (2012). Perceptions of prevention programmes for cardiovascular disease: a meta-synthesis. Health Psychology Seminar Series, Sheffield Hallam University.
Shaw, R.L. & Bonas, S. (2012). Making sense of voluntary childlessness using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Health Psychology Seminar Series, University of Keele.
Shaw, R.L., Cooke, R., Peel, E., Senior, C. & Donnelly, L.S. (2009). Ethical issues in MRI research: participants’ expectations and experiences. Health and Human Development Research Seminar Series, Aston University, Birmingham.
Shaw, R.L., Cooke, R., Peel, E., Senior, C. & Donnelly, L.S. (2009). Ethical issues in MRI research: participants’ expectations and experiences. Community Health Sciences Research Seminar Series, Queen’s Medical Centre, University of Nottingham.
Shaw, R.L. & Cooke, R. Understanding users' expectations and experiences of an MRI brain scan. Brains in Dialogue on Brain Imaging. University of Cambridge (www.neuromedia.eu), 17-18 March 2009.
Shaw, R.L., Peel, E.A., Cooke, R., Senior, C. Neuroethics research. Midlands Health Psychology Network, University of Leicester, 14 June 2006.
Shaw, R.L., Dixon-Woods, M., Miller, T.A., Jones, D.R., Sutton, A.J., Smith, J.A. Booth, A. & Young, B. How can systematic reviews incorporate qualitative research? Issues in finding and appraising qualitative research. Neurosciences Research Institute Research Seminar Series, Aston University, 13 April 2005.
Miller, T.A. & Shaw, R.L. Appraising qualitative research. Multidisciplinary Health Research Network, Oxford and Oxford Brookes Universities Joint Seminar Series, Institute of Health Sciences, Oxford University, 19 April 2005.
Shaw, R.L., Dixon-Woods, M., Miller, T.A., Jones, D.R., Sutton, A.J., Smith, J.A. Booth, A. & Young, B. Assessing qualitative research quality. ESRC Research Methods Programme Methods Festival, St Catherine’s College, Oxford, 2 July 2004.
Shaw, R.L. & Dixon-Woods, M. Systematic review of qualitative research. Health Services Research Centre Seminar Series, Coventry University, 3 March 2004.
Last updated: 15 Oct 2012
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