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School of Psychological Sciences

Dr Susan Speer BA (Hons), MSc (Econ), PhD., C.Psychol

Senior Lecturer

 

Role

Co-Director, MRes Psychology

External Examiner, Coventry University

Editorial Board Member, Gender and Language

Editorial Board Member, Journal of Language and Sexuality

 

Memberships of Committees and Professional Bodies

Chartered Psychologist, British Psychological Society

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy 

Affiliate, York University Feminist Conversation Analysis Unit

Research

After a BA (Hons) in Sociology and Social Policy (Durham), an MSc in Sociology (LSE) and a PhD in the Social Sciences Department at Loughborough, I spent a short time as a research assistant analysing the talk of sex offenders (Plymouth) before taking up my first Lectureship in Sociology and Communication in the Department of Human Sciences at Brunel University in 2000. In 2004 I moved to the University of Manchester School of Psychological Sciences to take up a Lectureship in Language and Communication. I was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2006. 

My research interests in medical interaction and the study of gender and sexuality (especially transgender) are interdisciplinary in focus, lying at the intersection of Sociology, Social Psychology and Communication Studies. I spent the 2005-2006 academic year as a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Sociology at The University of California at Los Angeles (funded by an ESRC-SSRC Collaborative Visiting Fellowship) where I received extensive training in Conversation Analysis.  From Dec 2010-Feb 2011 I returned as a visiting Scholar in the Center for Language Interaction and Culture (CLIC). I continue to work on data from the project 'Transsexual Identities: Constructions of Gender in an NHS Gender Identity Clinic' (co-investigator - Prof. Richard Green, Imperial College School of Medicine), which was part of the ESRC's 'Identities and Social Action' Research Programmme. My first book, Gender Talk: Feminism, Discourse and Conversation Analysis was published by Routledge in 2005, and I recently completed an edited collection on ‘Conversation and Gender’ (2011) for Cambridge University Press (with Prof. Elizabeth Stokoe - Loughborough University).

I supervise PhD research using qualitative (conversation analytic, discursive) methods on a range of topics. Interested students should email me in the first instance.

 

Teaching

Empirical Work and Research Methods (Qualitative Methods labs) [Year 2]

Conversation Analysis [Year 3]

Structured Approaches to Qualitative Data [MRes]

Student projects

 

Qualifications

1994: BA (Hons) Sociology and Social Policy (First Class Honours), University of Durham

1996: MSc (Econ) Sociology (with Distinction), London School of Economics and Political Science

2000: PhD Department of Social Sciences, Loughborough University

2002: PGCert Learning and Teaching in Higher Eduation, Brunel University

 

Publications

Frth

  • Ranjbar, V. and Speer, S. A. (Frth). The role of belief, blame, and respect when recovering from sexual abuse: A qualitative study (under submission). eScholarID:109617
  • Speer, S. A. (Frth). Talking about sex with patients: Evidence from the Gender Identity Clinic and implications for clinical practice (under submission). eScholarID:123060
  • Speer, S. A. and Stokoe, E. (Frth). Ethics in action: Consent-gaining interactions and implications for research practice (in preparation). eScholarID:129750
  • Speer, S. A. and Stokoe, E. (Frth). Flirting: Designedly ambiguous actions in interpersonal attraction (in preparation). eScholarID:129751

2012

  • Speer, S. A. (2012). 'Feminist' conversation analysis: Who needs it? (in press). Qualitative Research In Psychology, eScholarID:122338
  • Speer, S. A. (2012). Hypothetical questions: A comparative analysis and implications for 'applied' vs 'basic' conversation analysis (in press). Research on Language and Social Interaction, 45(4), eScholarID:122336
  • Speer, S. A. (2012). The Interactional Organization of Self-Praise: Epistemics, Preference Organisation and Implications for Identity Research (in press). Social Psychology Quarterly, 75(1), eScholarID:109615 | DOI:DOI: 10.1177/0190272511432939

2011

  • Speer SA, Stokoe E. (2011). Conversation and Gender (Eds. - Susan A. Speer and Elizabeth Stokoe). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. eScholarID:4d118
  • Speer SA, Stokoe E. (2011). An introduction to conversation and gender. In S. A. Speer and E. Stokoe (eds.) Conversation and Gender. (pp. 1-27). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. eScholarID:3d1062
  • Speer SA. (2011). On the role of reported, third party compliments in passing as a 'real' woman. In Speer, S. A. and Stokoe, E. (Eds.) Conversation and Gender. (pp. 155-182). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. eScholarID:3d657

2010

  • Speer SA. (2010). Pursuing views and testing commitments: Hypothetical questions in the psychiatric assessment of transsexual patients. In A. Freed and S. Ehrlich (eds.) Why do you ask? The function of questions in institutional discourse. (pp. 133-158). Oxford University Press. eScholarID:3d579
  • Speer, S. A. (2010). Key Researcher: Susan Speer on why I study trans. In Clarke, V., Ellis, S. J., Peel, E., and Riggs, D. W (Ed.), Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans & Queer Psychology: An Introduction. (pp. 89-90). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. eScholarID:122339

2009

  • Speer SA, Hutchby Ian. (2009). From ethics to analytics: Aspects of participants orientations to the presence and relevance of recording devices. In Fielding, N. (Ed.) Interviewing II. SAGE Benchmarks in Social Research Methods [Reprinted from Sociology 37(2)]. London: Sage. eScholarID:3d907
  • Speer SA. (2009). Passing as a transsexual woman in the gender identity clinic. M. Wetherell (ed.) Theorizing Identities and Social Action. (pp. 116-138). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. eScholarID:3d283

2008

  • Speer SA, Hutchby Ian. (2008). From ethics to analytics: Aspects of participants orientations to the presence and relevance of recording devices. In Hutchby, I. (Ed.) Methods in Language and Social Interaction Vol. 4, Embodiment, Modality and Mediation. SAGE Benchmarks in Social Research Methods [Reprinted from Sociology 37(2)]. London: Sage. eScholarID:3d661
  • Speer SA. (2008). Natural and contrived data. In P. Alasuutari, J. Brannen and L. Bickman (eds.) The Sage Handbook of Social Research Methods. (pp. 290-312). London: Sage. eScholarID:3d498

2007

  • Speer SA, Parsons C. (2007). 'Suppose you couldn't go any further with treatment, what would you do?' Hypothetical questions in interactions between psychiatrists and transsexual patients. In A. Hepburn and S. Wiggins (eds.) Discursive Research in Practice: New Approaches to Psychology and Interaction. (pp. 182-199). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. eScholarID:3d740
  • Speer, S. A. and Green, R. (2007). On passing: The interactional organization of appearance attributions in the psychiatric assessment of transsexual patients. In V. Clarke and E. Peel (Ed.), Out in Psychology: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer Perspectives. (pp. 335-368). Chichester: Wiley. eScholarID:75705
  • Speer, S. A. and Potter, J. (2007). The management of heterosexist talk: Conversational resources and prejudiced claims [Reprinted from Discourse & Society 11(4)]. In J. Potter (Ed.), Discourse and Psychology. SAGE Benchmarks in Psychology Series. Volume 2 Discourse and Social Psychology. London: Sage. eScholarID:117722
  • Goodman S, Speer SA. (2007). Category Use in the Construction of Asylum Seekers. Critical Discourse Studies, 4(2), 165-185. eScholarID:1d10557
  • Speer SA. (2007). On recruiting conversation analysis for critical realist purposes. Theory and Psychology, 17(1), 125-135. eScholarID:1d13399

2006

  • Speer SA, Parsons C. (2006). Gatekeeping Gender: Some Features of the Use of Hypothetical Questions in the Psychiatric Assessment of Transsexual Patients. Discourse and Society, 17(6), 785-812. eScholarID:1d12671 | DOI:10.1177/0957926506068433

2005

  • Speer SA. (2005). Gender Talk: Feminism, Discourse and Conversation Analysis. London: Routledge. eScholarID:4d176
  • Speer SA. (2005). The interactional organization of the gender attribution process. Sociology, 39(1), 67-87. eScholarID:1d9906 | DOI:10.1177/0038038505049002

2003

  • Speer SA, Hutchby I. (2003). From ethics to analytics: Aspects of participants orientations to the presence and relevance of recording devices. Sociology, 37(2), 315-337. eScholarID:1d9905 | DOI:10.1177/0038038503037002006
  • Speer SA, Hutchby I. (2003). Methodology Needs Analytics: A Rejoinder to Martyn Hammersley. Sociology, 37(2), 353-359. eScholarID:1d10272

2002

  • Speer SA, Potter J. (2002). From Performatives to Practices: Judith Butler, Discursive Psychology, and the Management of Heterosexist Talk. Talking Gender and Sexuality (Ed. P. McIlvenny). (pp. 151-180). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. eScholarID:3d564
  • Speer SA. (2002). Natural and contrived data: A sustainable distinction? Discourse Studies, 4(4), 511-525. eScholarID:1d9904
  • Speer SA. (2002). Sexist talk: Gender categories, participants orientation and irony. The Journal of Sociolinguistics, 6(3), 347-377. eScholarID:1d9902
  • Speer SA. (2002). Transcending the Natural/Contrived Distinction: A Rejoinder to ten Have, Lynch and Potter. Discourse Studies, 4(4), 543-548. eScholarID:1d10271
  • Speer SA. (2002). What can conversation analysis contribute to feminist methodology? Putting reflexivity into practice. Discourse and Society, 13(6), 801-821. eScholarID:1d9903 | DOI:10.1177/0957926502013006757

2001

  • Speer SA. (2001). Participants Orientations, Ideology, and the Ontological Status of Hegemonic Masculinity: A Rejoinder to Nigel Edley. Feminism and Psychology, 11(1), 141-144. eScholarID:1d10352
  • Speer SA. (2001). Reconsidering the concept of hegemonic masculinity: Discursive psychology, conversation analysis and participants orientations. Feminism and Psychology, 11(1), 107-135. eScholarID:1d9901
  • Speer SA. (2001). Review article of Goddard and Patterson, Language and Gender; Bucholtz, Liang and Sutton (eds) Reinventing Identities: The Gendered Self in Discourse, and Pauwels, Women Changing Language. Discourse and Society, 12(3), 393-397. eScholarID:1d10270
  • Speer SA. (2001). Sports Media and Gender Inequality. Body and Society, 7(1), 109-114. eScholarID:1d10269

2000

  • Speer SA, Potter J. (2000). The Management of Heterosexist Talk: Conversational Resources and Prejudiced Claims. Discourse and Society, 11(4), 543-572. eScholarID:1d10268
  • Speer SA. (2000). Lets Get Real? Feminism, Constructionism, and the Realism/Relativism Debate. Feminism and Psychology, 10(4), 539-550. eScholarID:1d10267

1999

  • Speer SA. (1999). Feminism and Conversation Analysis: An Oxymoron? Feminism and Psychology, 9(4), 471-478. eScholarID:1d10266

View all Research Projects

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