Running a Peer Research Project with Offenders in the Community
This toolkit is designed for probation staff and those involved with probation so they can run a research project with a group of service users. It explains peer research and its benefits, and looks at different aspects and considerations, including ethics, methods, data analysis and dissemination. Peer research involves the subject group (for example, people on probation) taking on the role of researcher. Peer research moves away from ‘top down’ research where people higher up in an organisation choose how research should be conducted. Instead, it takes a ‘bottom up’ approach, where individuals who are directly affected by the research outcomes play an active role in the research process.
There are many benefits of running a peer research project in probation:
- It can help break down barriers in an organisation
- It can add an ‘authentic’ voice to the findings, as the research has been carried out by the target group for the target group
- It may lead to people on probation saying more, being more comfortable talking to their peers than to staff members
- It is empowering for the peer researchers
- It can give peer researchers new skills and experiences, which could influence desistance from crime
- It is an effective way of having user involvement running through an organisation.
