Participatory research and the involvement of disabled people in the research process is a central tenet of disability studies and, along with the social model of disability, was one of the two key concepts that underpinned the discipline when it first started to emerge in academia in the mid-1980s. Whilst Mike Oliver was later to take the basic ideas of participatory research and redefine them to prioritise a focus on emancipation and challenging the oppression and disadvantage experienced by disabled people, this was in part at least to be achieved through changing the social relations of research production, turning disabled people from the object of research into active agents in the research process. In this short, concise and very clearly written book, Jo Aldridge draws on her experience of participatory research across a range of different settings working with a variety of research participants to examine both participatory research’s role and its potential in work with marginalised and vulnerable groups. Whilst, as Aldridge makes clear in her introduction, the use of the term vulnerable is contentious, its use is justified on pragmatic and ethical grounds and, not surprisingly and very appropriately, the ethics of participatory research is central to the book. What makes Participatory Research particularly useful is the way that Aldridge has drawn on her own extensive experience of participatory research across a range of populations, including children and young people, people with a learning disability and people who have been victims of abuse and trauma, particularly women who have been subject to sexual abuse, to ground her arguments. Further, not only is Aldridge able to draw on her experience across different populations but she has in her career to date employed a variety of methods, and bringing together different research methods including visual methods and narrative research within a participatory research paradigm make this a valuable resource for anybody carrying out or planning participatory research.
The first chapter presents a very clear introduction to participatory research, briefly describing its history, origins, utility, ethics, the range of approaches embraced under the umbrella of participatory research, what makes research participatory research and its utility as a research approach. The chapter presents both the benefits of participatory research and also the challenges it produces, both in terms of carrying out the research but also in terms of presenting research findings, wider dissemination, engagement with policy-makers and ensuring that the voices of those who have taken part in the process are included and influence policy.
The next three chapters are presented as case studies, the first focusing on children and young people and their roles and representation in social research. Based very strongly within a children’s rights agenda, this chapter explores the ethics of participatory research with children and methodological and practical issues in researching with young people. In this chapter Aldridge draws extensively on her work with young carers and demonstrates how participatory research can provide directions for policy and practice. The chapter demonstrates how by adopting a participatory agenda her work has shown that children’s contribution to care is important to acknowledge but so too is their potential vulnerability, and that focusing on one at the expense of the other would give a narrow and incomplete picture.
The chapter on learning disability, after briefly providing an overview of participatory and emancipatory research with people with a learning disability, focuses on the use of visual methods and their role in participatory research. Like the chapter on children, a rights-based approach is central to this chapter; and in particular Aldridge draws on her work with people with a learning disability employing visual methods and the way they can be adapted to be emancipatory and challenge stereotypical perceptions of people with a learning disability. Again the ethics of working with a participatory model is central to this case study.
The final case study explores the use of participatory research with people who have been abused, and here the focus is very much on narrative research and its use within a participatory framework. This chapter shows the role of such research and its potential, and the extensive use of a data extract from work with women who have been sexually abused really helps to bring this chapter to life. The actual analysis of such data is discussed in more detail in the next chapter, as are the changing roles and relationships that emerge from participatory research and its transformative potential. This inclusion of a practical explanation of how this work can be carried out is very welcome.
In the last chapter Aldridge brings together the key themes and presents her model of participatory research, and this almost amounts to a manifesto for research. She draws on themes that have emerged across the case studies to develop and articulate a participatory model. This model describes research on a continuum moving from research participants as passive objects of research to subject, to actor and finally through to participant-led research. It is when the latter is adopted, she argues, that research can become truly transformative.
Participatory Research is an excellent book and one that is a very welcome addition to literature in this area. It will be of interest both to those starting out in their career and to those who are rather more experienced. The clarity with which Aldridge presents her ideas, the depth of her knowledge on the subject and the engaging style adopted in the text means that this book will appeal to undergraduates and postgraduates alike.
Centre for Disability Research, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
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© 2016 Nick Watson
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2016.1208986