Authors and audiences: Towards a sociology of case recording

An important aspect of case recording is that it is a social relationship between authors and audiences, as well as a system of information storage and retrieval. From the sociological perspective, three aspects of case recording are reviewed: the social relationship between authors and potential audiences, power relations between them, and the interpretation of reality which takes place within the social relationship of case recording. Consequences of this perspective for case recording within social work and within agencies are reviewed. It is argued that a sociological perspective of case recording both explains and helps to analyse difficulties in the use of case recording in practice.     

Strategic planning in the Scottish health service--a mixed-scanning approach

A programme of research into the development of effective planning processes for the Scottish health service has been undertaken. This has led to proposals that a mixed-scanning approach be developed with the aim of introducing more systematic and rational thinking in a way which is technically and politically realistic. This paper discusses these general proposals in outline and the basis on which they were designed; it also focuses on one of the key components--the concept of a scanning or review process--which will provide an overall appreciation of what has been happening within the health service and what the future could hold. The research is continuing but even at this stage the emerging concepts could be of wide relevance and interest.