Peer research is increasingly used in international academic, policy and practice environments. It engages members of a group or social network as trusted members of a research team working in communities and settings they are familiar with.
Critics, however, point to methodological concerns with peer research. These include the extent to which peer researchers genuinely represent the populations under study; data confidentiality; the emotional burden of enquiring into sensitive issues peers may experience in their own lives; and the reliability and credibility of data collected by people who do not have academic training. The book seeks to counter the marginalisation of research experience and skills derived from close relationships with people and communities, while reflecting critically on the strengths and limitations of peer research. Chapters by a wide range of international contributors illustrate the potential of peer research to facilitate an in-depth understanding of health and social development issues and enhance policy and practice.
This interdisciplinary book provides students and professionals working in health, social science and development studies with a thorough grounding in this new style of research. It will appeal to those interested in research and evaluation; sexual health and public health; mental health, disability and social care; gender and sexuality; conservation and environmental management; migration and citizenship studies; humanitarian issues; and international development.
Peer research is increasingly used in international academic, policy and practice environments. It engages members of a group or social network as trusted members of a research team working in communities and settings they are familiar with.
Part I-Critical Perspectives on Peer Research 1.Peer research in health
and social development: understandings, strengths and limitations 2.From the
researched to the researcher: decolonising research praxis in Papua New
Guinea 3.Principled tensions when working with peer researchers:
community-based participatory research with five Pacific Islander communities
in Southern California 4.The limits of peer research? Reflecting on analytic
challenges during health and social development programme research in Rwanda,
Nepal, Ecuador and Uganda Part II-Working with hard to reach participants
5.People with dementia as peer researchers: understanding possibilities and
challenges 6.Gender diverse equality and wellbeing in Manipur, North East
India: reflections on peer-led research 7.Co-constructing knowledge about the
wellbeing outcomes of unaccompanied migrant children becoming adult
8.Participation and power: engaging peer researchers in preventing
gender-based violence in the Peruvian Amazon Part III- Understanding diverse
issues 9.Participatory visual research exploring gender and water in
Cameroon: a workshop model 10.I am the bridge: peer research with women
with disabilities in the Philippines and Australia 11.Reflecting on the role
of peer researchers in collaborative Indigenous food security research in the
Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Canada Part IV- Ethical considerations
12.Socio-ethical considerations in peer research with newly arrived migrant
and refugee young people in Denmark: reflections from a peer researcher
13.The ethical dilemmas of working safely with community researchers: lessons
from community-based research with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and
queer communities 14.Blurred lines: treading the path between research and
social intervention with peer researchers and participants in a study about
youth health in South Africa Part V- Influencing policy and practice
15.Farmer-led change: addressing environmental and health problems caused by
widespread pesticide use in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras 16.Using
empowering methods to research empowerment? Peer research by girls and young
women in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo 17.Lessons learned from
Australian case studies of sex workers engaged in academic research about sex
worker health, wellbeing and structural impediments 18.The lasting impact of
peer research with Indigenous communities of Guyana, South America
Stephen Bell is an associate professor in the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health and the School of Public Health at the University of Queensland, Australia. He is a social scientist who has conducted community-based research in partnership with young people and other marginalised populations in Africa, Asia, Pacific-Asia and Australia. The focus of his work is on sexual, reproductive and maternal health, HIV and other public health issues. His previous co-edited book (with Peter Aggleton), Monitoring and Evaluation in Health and Social Development: Interpretive and Ethnographic Approaches, was published by Routledge in 2016.
Peter Aggleton holds senior professorial positions in the Centre for Social Research in Health at UNSW Sydney, the School of Sociology at The Australian National University in Canberra, the Australian Research Centre for Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University in Melbourne, and the Centre for Gender and Global Health at UCL in London. In addition to his academic work, Peter has served as a senior adviser to UNAIDS, UNESCO, UNFPA and WHO. He has worked extensively across Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Ally Gibson is a lecturer in the School of Health at Victoria University of Wellington Te Herenga Waka, New Zealand. She is particularly interested in experiences and responses to cancer; sexual and reproductive health; gender, sexuality and identity; and inequity, marginalisation and vulnerability in health. A key priority in her research is to partner with community organisations to promote enquiry driven by the needs and priorities of individuals and community members.
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