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Maria Grant

Nursing and Advanced Practice

Faculty of Health

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The Grounded Theorist

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Maria is a mid-career PhD Researcher exploring how academics acquire the skills to write for publication.* Using constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 2014), a mixed methods approach is used blending in-depth qualitative interviews and social network analysis of publication portfolios. The mixed methods approach combines the strengths of participant narratives, visualisation of co-author networks and descriptive structural analysis to locate and understand formal networks in their social and cultural contexts (Bellotti, 2016). An in-depth understanding of writing experiences and longitudinal changes in writing patterns will be constructed, while the structural properties of publication portfolios will distinguish similarities and differences in network typologies and structures which superficially appear identical. Data are used to construct an understanding of common attributes of a successful professional academic writing career and the events which facilitated academics’ professional writing skills development. The intended outcome of this research will be a model of writing experiences and practice from which evidence based structures will be developed to support academics in writing for publication.

References
Bellotti K (2016) Qualitative methods and visualizations in the study of friendship networks, Sociological Research Online, 21 (2), 2-19.
Charmaz K (2014) Constructing grounded theory, London, Sage. 2nd Ed.

* Ethics Application: Liverpool John Moores University Research Ethics Committee (17/NAH/018 – 12th June 2017)
* Participant Information Sheet: https://bit.ly/3ogrgKK

Latest Publication
GRANT, M. J., LOTTO, R. R. & JONES, I. D. in press. What we can learn from elite academic staff publication portfolios: a social network analysis. ASLIB Journal of Information Management: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/AJIM-10-2019-0300/full/html”

Degrees

2001, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, United Kingdom, MSc Econ Health Information Management
1993, University of Central England, UK, BA (Hons) in Information and Library Studies

Certifications

2018, Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, Fellowship
2016, Higher Education Authority, Ireland, Fellow

Academic appointments

Research Fellow (Writing for Publication), University of Salford, 1998 - 2019

Postgraduate training

Post Graduate Certificate Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (Dist), United Kingdom, University of Salford, 2003 - 2004

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