What is Partnership Research? Key Ideas

Here are some ideas about why partnership research with 'service users' is a good idea. We have also included some important questions about partnership research.

The first question is about the term 'service users'. This is a term which is used in Government documents (and in other places) to describe people who use the National Health Service, Social Services and services provided by voluntary organisations or private companies. It has become quite common in the last few years for research to be carried out with 'service users'. This research is interested in the views of these 'users' as compared to the views of the people who provide these services. However, some people don't like the term 'service users' because it "conceives of people primarily in terms of their use of services, which may well not be how they would define themselves" (Wilson and Beresford, 2000:553). Also see: Beresford (2005).

As you can see, even the words we use to describe people in research can be quite difficult. If you are beginning to do research you might like to ask the people you are working with what they think of the labels they have been given and how they would like to be called in the research. For the rest of this document we will use the term 'research partners' rather than 'service users'.

What do we mean by 'research partners'? We mean all those people that as University Researchers we might work with on the design, planning and conduct of a research project which concerns their lives and experiences. This would include users and recipients of health, education and welfare services, research participants and 'subjects' of social policy who may also have their own agendas for research. This partnership approach is appropriate where all participants (existing researchers and those new to research) agree at the beginning that they have much to learn from each other , and want to work together in order to learn more. To read more about the ideas behind 'Partnership Research' see Phase 2 funding proposal.

In this way 'Partnership Research' differs from what is known as 'emancipatory research' where "researchers have to learn how to put their knowledge and skills at the disposal of their research subjects, for them to use in whatever ways they choose" (Oliver, 1992: 111). Partnership Research is also distinct from Participatory Action Research (McTaggart et al 1997) where the method is regarded as a 'tool' for empowerment of the participants, and the process takes precedence over any formal research outputs. We have benefited, of course, from drawing on literature in these related areas. For more information on 'emancipatory' research see Emancipatory/ Participatory approaches

One of the good things about the term 'research partner' is that it emphasises that everyone can contribute to the research process and learn from one another. One of the bad things about the term 'research partner' is that it suggests that everyone is equal and there may be lots of different ways in which this is not the case. You will see, below, some of the ways in which the ideal of equality is more complicated than it may seem. We do this by providing a list of what we hope to achieve through 'Partnership Research' and then asking some questions about these ideals.

1. All 'partners' are actively involved in the research process.

• Those with less experience may find it quite difficult to be 'actively involved' so how do we work to make this possible?
• Those people with lots of experience may find it difficult to give up control of the work so how do we work to make this possible?
• Is there enough time for 'active involvement' throughout the project?

2. All 'partners' can influence the design, planning and conduct of the research.

• What happens if people don't agree on how the work should be done?
• How do we make it easy for people to state their opinions when they are not the same as everyone else's?
• How are we going to decide on the best way forward when there are disagreements?

3. Different 'partners' bring different things to the research, so that University Researchers (for example) are not 'experts' in all things.

• Does this mean that we decide, in advance, who is 'expert' in what?
• Is it better to say that no-one is an expert in this piece of research as every piece of research is different from any other piece of research?
• Because someone has experienced something (e.g. living with cancer) does this mean they are an 'expert' in that subject?
• Is personal experience the only way of learning about things?

4. The research 'outputs' may be different from 'traditional' research and more in line with the interests, needs and intentions of the research participants. Research conducted in partnership may produce non-traditional outputs like 'photo records' (see Working with Pictures and Report with Pictures and Words) that are easier to read than formal written reports. This approach recognises that a key audience to the research is the people who have participated in the research (and those who share their experience in wider society).

• Is there a risk that sometimes we forget to speak to policy makers and other power brokers when we only produce accessible reports?
• Is it easier for those with power to ignore service users because they are seen to be served by initiatives like 'partnership research' or 'partnership boards'?
• Is there a danger that this sort of research contributes to problems becoming individualised when it is really wider society that needs to change? This argument is connected to the social model of disability (see below)*.

Some people believe that if we work in 'partnership' we can produce better research (you can see what we mean by 'better' in Is partnership research better research? )

*The social model sets out to avoid the 'individual-blaming philosophy' of the individual or medical models. Instead, the emphasis is on understanding the "ways in which physical, cultural and social environments exclude or disadvantage people labelled disabled" (Barnes, 2003:5). (For more information on the social model of disability see: http://www.bcodp.org.uk ) For further discussion on this website see Politics and ethics of partnership research.

References

Barnes, C. (2003) 'What a Difference a Decade Makes: reflections on doing 'emancipatory' disability research', Disability & Society , 18, 1, p3-17.

Beresford, P. (2005) 'Service User: Regressive or Liberatory Terminology?' Disability and Society, 20, 4, p.469-477.

Wilson, A. and Beresford, P. (2000) 'Anti-Oppressive Practice: Emancipation or Appropriation?', British Journal of Social Work , 30, p553-573.