Projects per year
Abstract
Encouraged by the vast amounts of data produced in healthcare,
political ambitions for a data-driven approach have led to significant
investments in healthcare infrastructures. This paper explores how healthcare
professionals engage in data work to realize ambitions of becoming data-
driven within regional healthcare settings. Drawing on the notion of data
journeys (Leonelli, 2020), the study examines how data is produced,
processed, mobilized, and repurposed through Business Intelligence tools
and a data warehouse. Based on qualitative interviews and fieldwork, the
paper identifies three central forms of data work: ‘re-configuring data
infrastructures’, ‘managing data quality in practice’, and ‘visualizing and
recontextualizing data’. The findings show that data journeys are not linear
but cyclical, negotiated, and shaped by infrastructural constraints,
professional judgment, and institutional tensions. These tensions, such as
breakdowns, ontological ambiguity, and disputes, are not mere disruptions
but central to how data becomes actionable. The paper introduces the
concept of the ‘productive paradox of error’ to capture how error management
generates new epistemic and ontological work, positioning tensions as
generative forces in the pursuit of becoming data-driven.
political ambitions for a data-driven approach have led to significant
investments in healthcare infrastructures. This paper explores how healthcare
professionals engage in data work to realize ambitions of becoming data-
driven within regional healthcare settings. Drawing on the notion of data
journeys (Leonelli, 2020), the study examines how data is produced,
processed, mobilized, and repurposed through Business Intelligence tools
and a data warehouse. Based on qualitative interviews and fieldwork, the
paper identifies three central forms of data work: ‘re-configuring data
infrastructures’, ‘managing data quality in practice’, and ‘visualizing and
recontextualizing data’. The findings show that data journeys are not linear
but cyclical, negotiated, and shaped by infrastructural constraints,
professional judgment, and institutional tensions. These tensions, such as
breakdowns, ontological ambiguity, and disputes, are not mere disruptions
but central to how data becomes actionable. The paper introduces the
concept of the ‘productive paradox of error’ to capture how error management
generates new epistemic and ontological work, positioning tensions as
generative forces in the pursuit of becoming data-driven.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems |
| ISSN | 0905-0167 |
| Publication status | Accepted/In press - 2025 |
Keywords
- data infrastructures
- data journeys
- data work
- decontextualization
- healthcare
- recontextualization
- qualitative research
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Becoming Data-Driven: Exploring Data Work and Tensions in Healthcare Data Journeys'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
-
Making Data Work Visible: Business Intelligence in Healthcare
Pedersen, A. M. (PI)
01/01/2021 → 31/10/2024
Project: Research
Research output
- 1 PhD thesis
-
Data Saves Lives: An Ethnography of a Healthcare Business Intelligence Unit
Pedersen, A. M., 18 Mar 2025, 250 p.Research output: Types of Thesis › PhD thesis