Andrew Booth

What am I good at?

I often come up with creative ideas and am particularly strong at problem-solving, not just for reviews but also research projects more generally. I have a keen sense of humour which can help if a project is facing challenges but is probably grating at times! I enjoy creating acronyms – I can’t claim to have created EQualD but have more than my fair share of project acronyms floating about. I am easy-going and am generally a good communicator, encouraging others to do so too – I would much rather see something freely expressed than remain hidden from the group.

How am I helping with the project?

I will be learning a lot about people with learning disabilities – I have a particular interest in social care, particularly as my wife works with young adults with learning disabilities & autism, physical disabilities and sensory impairments. My own area of expertise is in identifying and reviewing the research literature which is called "evidence synthesis". I have participated in about a dozen realist reviews to date. That is what we will be doing early in the project so I will be helping project collaborators to understand what a realist review is and how it can help answer important questions for the project.

What is important to me?

I believe that it is important to value everyone’s contribution – one of the reasons why I like working with qualitative research studies (studies of people’s attitudes and opinions) is that they often give a collective voice to those who are seldom-heard. This fits with my strong sense of natural justice.